Reservation Bill: Jat group files caveat in Supreme Court on quota issue

New Delhi: A Jat group today moved the Supreme Court seeking a hearing if any petition is filed and entertained against the recent decision of quota benefits to the community members in Haryana. “In case of filing of petition for stay (of decision to grant reservation) on behalf of the respondent (Raj Kumar Saini), the caveator wants to appear and wants to bring to the notice of the honourable court the true and material facts of the case,” All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) said in its caveat plea filed this afternoon in the Registry of the Apex Court. [caption id=“attachment_2681776” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Jat agitation. PTI[/caption] Hawa Singh Sangwan, AIJASS President, has referred to the recent purported statement of Saini, a BJP MP from Kurukshetra, in which the lawmaker had said that he would move the Supreme Court against the grant of quota benefits to the Jat community. A Bill to provide reservation to Jats and five other communities in government jobs and educational institutions was unanimously passed by the Haryana Assembly on 29 March, ahead of the 3 April deadline set by the community which had launched a violent quota agitation in February. Meeting a key demand of the community, the measure envisages reservation to Jats and five other castes, Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois, Tyagis and Mulla Jat/Muslim Jat, by constituting a new classification Block ‘C’ in the Backward Classes category. It proposes to give 10 percent reservation to Jats and five other castes in government and government-aided educational institutions and Class III and IV government jobs. It also envisaged 6 percent reservation to Jats and five other castes in BC ‘C’ category in class I and II jobs. Jats had threatened to relaunch their agitation on 18 March but put it off till 3 April after the BJP government in Haryana assured them it would bring the Bill. They had launched a stir in February demanding reservation in BC category. The agitation, which had taken a violent turn, left 30 people dead and 320 persons injured and resulted in huge damage to property.