J'khand guv urged to send reservation, domicile legislations to Centre

A delegation led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren Tuesday met Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais and urged him to send two legislations on reservation for government jobs and determination of domicile status to the Centre for inclusion in the ninth schedule of Constitution.Soren said barring the BJP representatives all political parties in the state - the JMM, Congress, the Left parties as well as AJSU joined the delegation.

A delegation led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren Tuesday met Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais and urged him to send two legislations on reservation for government jobs and determination of domicile status to the Centre for inclusion in the ninth schedule of Constitution.

Soren said barring the BJP representatives all political parties in the state - the JMM, Congress, the Left parties as well as AJSU joined the delegation. ''The (Jharkhand) High Court had cancelled the recruitment policy of the state .... The state Assembly on November 11 passed two legislations - one raised the quota for reservation in government jobs in the state to 77 per cent, including 27 per cent reservation for OBC, and another on the 1932 ‘Khatiyan’ (land records)-based domicile. We requested the governor to approve them and send it to the Centre to provide a constitutional shield,'' he told media persons after the meeting.

Both the legislations - Jharkhand Reservation in Vacancies of Posts and Services (Amendment) Act 2022 and the Jharkhand Definition of Local Persons and for Extending the Consequential Social, Cultural and Other Benefits to such Local Persons Act, 2022 came with the caveat that ''the Acts shall take effect after these are included in the ninth schedule of the Constitution of India ''.

The ninth schedule of the Constitution contains a list of central and state laws that cannot be challenged in courts.

The chief minister said it is unfortunate that the youth of the state are not getting employment in third and fourth grade posts and alleged that a conspiracy has been hatched by a ''gang'' active here to ''debar locals from their rights''. ''There are some forces active in the state that are trying to snatch the rights of locals. In the case (on recruitment policy) in the HC out of 20 complainants against it 19 belonged to other states,'' he asserted.

Earlier, Soren in his letter to leaders of all political parties and independent legislators said that both the bills were unanimously passed on November 11 and now required the constitutional shield as whenever efforts were made to draw up local policies they are rejected.

''In order to provide constitutional shield to both the bills ... the decision to include these in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution was taken unanimously by the Legislative Assembly,'' the letter said. The Jharkhand High Court on December 16 struck down the amendments made by the state government in the recruitment rules of Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC).

A division bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad pronounced the order while hearing a petition filed by a person Ramesh Hansda who had challenged the changes made to the JSSC rules stating that they are affecting the prospects of many candidates seeking government jobs.

The state cabinet had last year cleared proposals amending the employment eligibility criteria and syllabus for the examinations conducted by JSSC for grade-III and grade-IV government jobs. According to the amended rules, candidates in the general category who have their matriculation and intermediate certificates from institutions outside the state will not be eligible to sit for the exams.

Candidates of the reserved category were not put under such stipulations.

The HC, besides striking down the eligibility norm for general category, also set aside the decision of the government to not include English and Hindi as subjects in the language paper offered by the JSSC. Meanwhile, BJP State President Deepak Prakash alleged that the state government is indulging in politics for cheap popularity and should instead take steps as per legal provisions.

''The High Court has given opportunity to the state government to review both the legislations and the state government is empowered to frame policies and implement them. The state should review it and take steps in the interest of the youth,'' he said.

BJP will extend full cooperation in steps which will be taken in accordance with the law, Prakash added.