23 Dec, 2010, 06.24AM IST,ET Bureau
Rajasthan HC stays 5% reservation for Gujjars
JAIPUR | NEW DELHI: The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday stayed
operation of a 2008 Act granting five percent reservation for Gujjars
in the state, causing angry community leaders to threaten an
intensified agitation.
As Gujjar leaders resolved to throw rail and road traffic out of gear
in the state and also disrupt milk supply to Delhi, the centre rushed
1,500 para-military personnel to assist the state police in
maintaining law and order. Union Home Secretary GK Pillai also spoke
to Rajasthan chief secretary on Wednesday to take stock of the
situation and discuss preventive measures.
Earlier on Wednesday, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun
Mishra and Justice Mahesh Bhagwati held that Gujjars could not be
given special reservation as an Act of 2008 has no substratum of
quantifiable data that could justify the quota.
The judges, while hearing a petition by G Sharma, ruled that the
government could continue to provide one per cent reservation for
Gujjars in its ongoing recruitment drive. However, they asked the
government to carry out within a year an exercise to collect details
on the economic status of Gujjars and other communities, including
Raikas, Raibari and Gadiya Lohars, to justify their quota under the
special backward classes category.
Reacting to the court decision, Colonel (Retd) KS Bainsla, convener of
Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (GASS), said that the community would
intensify its stir launched on Monday.
"The government has failed to present our case in a proper manner in
the court. We want 5 per cent reservation. We are not concerned what
court has to say. Our demand was never from the court but it was from
the government. We will end our agitation only after the government
provides us reservation," said Bainsla. Bainsla said he has asked the
members of his community to stop supply of milk to Delhi.
"We have been forced to intensify our stir... we will not supply milk
to Delhi and start blocking major national highways," he said. As the
Gujjar agitation entered the third day, train services between Delhi
and Mumbai were hit Wednesday with protestors blocking a railway track
near Bayana in Bharatpur district. Agitating Gujjars also blocked
Ajmer-Jaipur highway near Ghugra in Ajmer district.
Over 15,000 Gujjars began their agitation on Monday. They have held
demonstrations in Bhilwara, Ajmer and other parts of the state. The
agitators also blocked the Bayana-Hindon and Hindon-Bharatpur roads,
forcing the government to cancel some of its bus services on these
routes.
The government has warned that strong action would be taken against
people who damage government property. A 2008 Act had provided for
five per cent reservation for Gujjars and 14 per cent for economically
backward classes, taking the total quota in Rajasthan to 68%.
The high court thereafter stayed the quota in jobs and educational
institutions in the state for Gujjars and economically backward
classes as the reservation ceiling had exceeded the cap of 50% laid
down by the Supreme Court. Gujjars in Rajasthan, demanding reservation
for better educational and job prospects, staged many violent protests
between 2006 and 2008, leading to loss of lives.
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