The Rajasthan Assembly on Thursday passed a bill increasing Other Backward Classes (OBCs) reservation in the state from 21% to 26%. It now grants 5% reservation to the five “most backward” OBC communities, including the Gujjar community. This brings the reservation in Rajasthan to 54%, crossing the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court.
Jaipur, Oct 26: The Rajasthan Assembly on Thursday passed a bill raising the Other Backward Caste (OBC) reservation from 21 per cent to 26 per cent in the state. With this, the total quota for government jobs and seats in educational institutes in the state has increased to 54 per cent, crossing 50 per cent ceiling set by the Supreme Court.
The Rajasthan Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointment and Posts in Services under the State) Bill, 2017, now grants five per cent reservation to the five “most backward” OBC communities, which also includes Gujjars and four other communities that were earlier treated as the special backward classes (SBC).
The bill was passed was tabled during the Rajasthan Assembly’s monsoon session, which commenced on Monday. The Gujjar community had demanded reservation under the OBC category. Five castes – Gujjar/Gurjar, Banjara/Baldia/Labana, Gadia-Lohar/Gadalia, Raika/Rebari and Gadaria – were added in the OBC list in the year 1994.
However, in the year 2016, the Rajasthan High Court had struck down the state government’s proposal to grant 5 per cent quota to Gujjars saying that it would increase the overall quota to 54 per cent. As per the Supreme Court, the total quota in government jobs and seats in educational institutions can’t go over 50 per cent. It had observed that the reservation should not be provided to “achieve political goals”.
A source told TOI that the OBC quota is being increased in proportion to the increase in the population of OBC in the state. With this, there will be no SBC category.
Source : India.com