No timeline set for ministerial panel on reservation rule: Sakina Itoo

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday informed that no specific timeline has been set for the three member cabinet sub-committee (CSC) constituted to examine reservation rules for government jobs in the union territory.

Responding to a question by People’s Conference (PC) MLA Sajad Gani Lone (in absentia) during question hour at legislative assembly here, the minister in-charge social welfare Sakina Itto said that no specific timeline has been fixed for submitting of the report by CSC. Lone had asked whether a six-month timeline had been granted to the CSC for submitting the report.

“The CSC stands constituted vide government order number 2061- JKGAD of 2024, dated December 10, 2024, to examine the grievances projected by a section of aspirants for various posts regarding reservation rules. However, no specific timeline has been fixed for submitting the report,” she said.

The minister also informed the house that 5,26,605 certificates under Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribe categories have been issued in Jammu region since April 1, 2023, while the number of such certificates issued in Kashmir region during this period was 79,813.

She also informed that 2,198 villages in Jammu were benefitted under Actual Line of Control (ALC, International Border (IB) and Reserved Backward Area (RBA) while the number is 1,245 in Kashmir. “Similarly, 29,963 certificates under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) have been issued in J&K since April 1, 2023. Of which, 27,420 have been issued in Jammu region and 2,273 in Kashmir,” she said.

It may be recalled here that in December last year, Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association had strongly criticised the government for its “contentious” reservation policy. Consequently, chief minister Omar Abdullah had assured a cabinet sub-committee assuring that it would submit its review report within six months. The three-member panel to review the policy, comprised education miniser Sakina Itoo, forest minister Javed Ahmad Rana, and science and technology minister Satish Sharma.

Member of Parliament from the ruling National Conference Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders Iltija Mufti and PDP MLA Waheed ur Rehman Para besides Awami Ittehad Party’s (AIP) Sheikh Khurshid had demanded rationalisation of the reservation policy.

The reservation policy structure was introduced by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration after the abrogation of Article 370. It drew sharp criticism by the aspirants from general category who rued limited opportunities for them with respect to government jobs and admission to educational institutions.

“The reply furnished by the minister for social welfare is inappropriate as it lacks details about individual data of certificates issued under ST-1 and ST-2 or Pahadi Speaking People (PSP). As far as deadlines are concerned, it’s merely an excuse by the minister to ignore demand of rationalisation of reservation in education and jobs. Since policy is under scrutiny, the government should have either halted recruitment or accelerated process of review so that each section could get its due share. Unfortunately the government failed to address the issue in right earnest,” said a job activist Vinkal Sharma.

Whole reservation concept is rigged, says Lone

Meanwhile, PC chief Sajjad Lone took to X and expressed his shock over statistics shared by the government. “This is a shocker. Regionally–loss due to reservations much higher than anticipated. I had posed some questions pertaining to reservations. And these questions were mostly focused on regional disparities across all categories. I will summarise it here and will also be addressing a press conference,” he posted on X and shared a graph.

“Kashmir as region is far behind. The net loss of quotas to Kashmiri speaking population is of a much higher scale than we had thought. The whole reservation concept is rigged against the Kashmiri speaking population and against ST or EWS living in Kashmir. Even the ST population living in Kashmir is a net loser. They make up a meagre 15% of the total applicants from the ST pool. RBA is almost same but when you adjust for population, against it is less. Kashmir population is approximately 7% more. And areas under RBA are almost same proportionately. Yet in number terms they are behind Jammu And lastly the committee set up by government on 10/12/2024 to examine grievances has no specific timeline for submitting report. We were told it is six months timeline,” he added.

Hope the government gives some clarity: MP Ruhullah

MP Aga Ruhullah wrote on X, “I hope this line saying “no specific timeline has been fixed for submitting the report” in the reply is some clerical error or some miscommunication between the department and the Chief Minister’s office. @CM_JnK should clarify this. If it is not, it then is a blatant lie and betrayal with the students who raised the issue with their elected government and showed faith and trust in the word and response given to them. I didn’t speak on this matter after the students got the assurance from the CM last time because I was expecting the government to do its job in the given time as they had assured. But this response has shocked me. I will not sit quiet on this. I hope the government gives some clarity on this matter and assures us that this reply is a result of some mistake not a deliberate blatant lie.”

Panel examining quota system given six months to submit report: Omar

Omar Abdullah responding to issue on X said, “The Cabinet sub-committee constituted to examine the complicated issue of reservations in recruitment has been given a six month timeline to complete their report. This timeline was set by me after I met with a concerned group of job aspirants. This timeline, however, was not in the initial order setting up the sub-committee. That oversight will be corrected but rest-assured the committee is working to complete its task in the set time-frame.”

With inputs from HTC Srinagar