Effectively freezing the Rajasthan government’s bid to provide quotas for Gujjars in jobs and education, the Supreme Court has restrained the State from taking any action which will have the result of pushing the total reservation beyond the 50% ceiling limit set by the apex court.
“We are inclined to restrain the State government from taking any action or decision on the administrative side or in any manner conferring the benefit of reservation, which will have the result of crossing the total reservation beyond 50%,” a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra ordered on Wednesday.
The Bench ordered the Rajasthan government to maintain status quo till the High Court finally decides a pending case before it against the Rajasthan Backward Classes Bill which proposes to raise the reservation for OBC category from 21% to 26%.
If the Bill comes into effect, the total OBC quota in the State for government jobs and seats in educational institutions would have increased to 54%.
The Bill provides 5% reservation to Gujjars and four other communities.
The other five castes include Gujjar/Gurjar, Banjara/Baldia/Labana, Gadia-Lohar/Gadalia, Raika/Rebari and Gadaria.
In December 2016, the Rajasthan High Court had struck down the State’s proposal to include these five under the Special Backward Class Reservation Act, 2015.
The State government had moved the SC against a November 9 decision of the HC to stay the Bill.
