GTA decides to reserve 28% jobs for SC/STs

Darjeeling: The Gorkha Territorial Administration has passed a resolution to reserve 22 per cent jobs for Scheduled Castes and 6 per cent for Scheduled Tribes. The GTA Act would have to be amended to reserve seats in the hill body, executive member of GTA Roshan Giri said. The resolution would require the West Bengal government’s sanction. GTA, which passed the resolution yesterday, also decided to follow reservations in the GTA elections which would reflect the 33.72 per cent presence of STs and the 9.82 per cent of SCs in the hills in the north Bengal district. [caption id=“attachment_955717” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. AFP.[/caption] “The GTA passed a resolution to provide seat reservations to SC and ST communities in the next GTA elections, Giri, said. “The Sabha has also decided to maintain a 100-point roster system in all future appointments made by the GTA,” Giri, the senior Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader, said. About GTA job recruitments, he said, according to the 100-point roster system, 22 per cent of jobs have to be reserved for SCs and 6 per cent for STs. Members of Other Backward Classes enjoy a reservation of 27 per cent. The GTA has 45 elected members and five nominated ones. None of the seats are reserved. The SC community had recently criticised the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha for denying them their constitutional rights while appointing 575 primary school teachers. SC leaders had said that 127 candidates from the community needed to be appointed as teachers, but only 80 had been given jobs. They had threatened to approach the National Commission of Schedule Castes with the matter. PTI