Petitioner challenges Haryana's new Jat reservations bill

A resident of Jind on Wednesday approached the Punjab and Haryana high court with a challenge to a new bill that provides reservations to five communities including Jats in Haryana.

The petitioner said that Hayana's Manohar Lal Khattar government's decision was "arbitrary and malafide". The high court will hear the petition later this week.

The Haryana government on Tuesday passed the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2016, which will bring six castes - Jats, Jat Sikhs, Bishnois, Rors, Tyagis and Muslim or Mulla Jats - within the backward class (C) category and provide 10 per cent reservation in class 3 and 4 posts and 6 per cent reservation in class 1 and 2 posts, according to the Hindustan Times.

The bill was passed after a violent stir by Jats in the state in February that caused great damage and saw 30 people dead and more than 320 people injured.

Shakti Singh, the petitioner, said that the government had acted under the pressure of a particular caste, and that the bill was introduced without a survey or a committee or commission report on the issue.

He said that though a Supreme Court ruling barred reservation beyond 50 per cent, Haryana's new bill will take reservations in the state up to 70 per cent.