Haryana Assembly unanimously passes Jat reservation bill

Members of the Jat community had set a deadline of April 3 for their demands to be me

In a major victory for the Jat community, the Haryana Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed the bill to provide them reservation in government jobs and education sector in the Budget Session.

The Haryana Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of a bill proposing to provide quotas to Jats, a day after members of the community had threatened to resume their agitation if their demands were not met. The draft bill on quotas for Jats and four other castes was cleared at a Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

The Jats had set a deadline of April 3 for their demands to be met. In February they had held violent protests for nine days demanding reservations, in which at least 30 people had lost their lives and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed.

Besides Jats, the bill will provide for quotas for Jat Sikhs, Rors, Bishnois and Tyagis. A new classification in the category of backward classes is learnt to have been created for this purpose.

The state’s BJP government had promised reservations for Jats and the others after the recent agitation. Khattar had also made it clear the existing 27 per cent reservations for Other Backward Classes would not be disturbed.