Haryana govt faces embarrassment as Punjab and Haryana HC stays its Act on ‘75% quota for locals in pvt jobs’

The BJP-JJP led Haryana government suffered a major embarrassment after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday put a stay on its decision on '75 per cent quota in private jobs for locals’.

In November last year, State Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in November last, had claimed to have implemented the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act - 2020, with effect from January 15, 2022.

To provide 75 per cent reservation to the domiciles of the state, was a key poll promise of Dushyant Chautala’s Jannyak Janta Party (JJP), a political partner of the BJP in Haryana.

The Khattar government had also passed the Bill in Haryana Vidhan Sabha and subsequently Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya gave his assent to the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020, in March 2021.

Though the government had promised that the Act will apply on all the jobs that offer a gross monthly salary up to Rs 50,000, it issued another notification last year specifying that the upper cap had been reduced to Rs 30,000.

Though Chautala had claimed that the decision will provide 75 per cent jobs to local youth in private companies and thus it would greatly benefit the youth of the state. However, the decision was widely opposed by the industrials besides Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI).