Soz urges Delimitation Commission to review proposal of 12 reserved seats in Jammu vis-à-vis 4 in Kashmir

Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Prof. Saifuddin Soz has called upon the J&K Delimitation Commission to review its recommendations with regard to constituencies reserved for SCs/STs, apprehending that it may lead to social unrest.

“The Delimitation Commission has already created an impression that it will work on sectarian lines. It has also left room for causing suspicion in the minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly the people of Kashmir. The Commission has almost deliberately adopted a course of action that is detrimental to the interests of the bonafide residents of J&K, particularly that of Kashmir,” he said in a press statement issued on Tuesday.

“The Delimitation Commission formula reserving 12 seats in Jammu and only 4 seats in Kashmir for SCs/STs may ultimately lead to a kind of social unrest.

The Commission has suggested this formula in its short-sighted response to a ticklish problem with sizable repercussions,” he added.

“The Commission would be well advised to minutely study the verdict of the Supreme Court in its judgment in the case related to Triloki Nath Tikoo versus the J&K State in which the court had not excluded Kashmir’s Scheduled Castes (nineteen of them) like Marasi, Dubduba, Sansi, Jorbardar, Hamami, etc. for the grant of reservations in the government services etc.,” Soz said.

“This is only to suggest that the Delimitation question is a very ticklish matter and the Commission would be well-advised to give its well-considered opinion on the subject. Its pre-conceived ideas will not work at all. The only workable medium for the Commission is to work closely with J&K’s mainstream political class. The sooner it moves in that direction the better,” he said.