Why 10% job reservation for families of statehood agitators? U’khand HC asks govt for ‘clear justification’

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand high court (HC) on Thursday sought a "clear justification" from the state govt for its decision to grant 10% reservation in jobs to families of those who fought for the separate state of Uttarakhand, which was carved out of UP in 2000. The court issued a notice to the govt, directing it to submit a detailed response within six weeks, including the "pertinent data supporting the reservation."
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Alok Kumar Verma was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the reservation provision instituted in Aug this year.The court declined to immediately stay the decision, but asked the petitioner to provide a copy of the order to the public service commission, to halt further action for the time being.
The PIL, filed by petitioner Bhuvan Singh from Dehradun and others, argued that in 2004, 10% horizontal reservation was granted to statehood agitators, but it was challenged in the HC. In 2017, the HC declared the govt order unconstitutional, saying all residents of the state were considered agitators during the statehood movement. The petitioners claimed that the govt did not contest the HC order in the Supreme Court and passed a new law on Aug 18 this year, granting the same reservation, despite the earlier ruling.
The state's advocate general, SN Babulkar, defended the govt's decision, asserting that "it has the authority to enact such laws". As a justification for the move, he cited the Supreme Court's ruling on reservation policies for economically weaker sections (EWS) that upheld the validity of a 10% EWS quota.
"The prevailing circumstances in the state have changed and based on this, the state implemented the reservation law, resulting in the creation of posts by the public service commission," he said.