Chandigarh: Haryana will implement a panel recommendation dividing the Scheduled Caste (SC) community into two groups and apply sub-quotas, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini announced on Friday, making the state India’s first province to put into action the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict on subclassification of Dalit reservations.
In August, before the assembly elections, the Haryana SC commission had recommended subclassifying the Dalit communities into two categories – deprived scheduled castes (DSC) comprising 36 groups such as Balmikis, Dhanaks, Mazhabi Sikhs and Khatiks, and other scheduled castes (OSC) comprising castes such as Chamar, Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasi, Ravidasi and Jatav.
On Friday, Saini announced that the first meeting of the state cabinet had approved the proposal.
“The council of ministers today decided to implement subclassification of scheduled castes into two categories as per the decision of the Supreme Court. The subclassification will be applicable from today,’’ Saini said at a briefing.
A notification ordering subclassification of SCs into DSCs and OSCs to provide each of the two categories 50% each of the 20% SC quota in government jobs will be issued by the chief secretary, said an official.The Haryana government had in 2020 enacted the Haryana Scheduled Castes (reservation in admission in educational institutions) Act, to set aside 50% of the 20% seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes in higher education institutions of the state for a new category, the deprived Scheduled Castes.
The decision is important because the subclassification pitch helped the Bharatiya Janata Party pick up a substantial chunk of the SC vote during the recently concluded assembly elections on its way to a historic third consecutive term. The party won eight of the 17 seats reserved for SCs, up from five in 2019.
Saini’s decision – along with a similar move by poll-bound Maharashtra, which also set up a panel to look into subclassification hours before the elections were announced – indicated that internally dividing the SC quota will be part of the BJP’s strategy going ahead, and its counter to the Opposition’s caste census pitch.
In its recommendation, the Haryana SC commission had concluded that since DSCs are not adequately represented in government employment, 50% of the 20% reserved vacancies for SCs will be reserved for them. However, if an eligible candidate is not available from among the DSC, the vacancy will be filled by a candidate from OSC, and vice versa.
The Commission said that classification of Scheduled Castes as DSCs underlined their significant underrepresentation in Haryana’s services sector, a direct consequence of their social, educational, and occupational backwardness.
The Commission found within all the government sector jobs reserved for SCs in Haryana including class 4 of group D, there was a stark underrepresentation (39.71% share in all SC jobs) of the deprived scheduled castes accounting for 31.57%, 27.31% and 36.14% of group A, B, C, jobs respectively. However, their share in Group D jobs was 56.90%. “This stark contrast is further amplified when compared to other scheduled castes, who enjoy proportional representation in these job categories. This disparity as understood by the Commission is rooted in the complex socio-political and economic background and the low educational attainment within DSC.
The apex court while allowing subclassification of Scheduled Castes had held that the state can subclassify, inter alia, based on inadequate representation of certain castes. “However, it must establish that the inadequacy of representation of a caste/group is because of its backwardness. The state must collect data on the inadequacy of representation in the services of the state because it is used as an indicator of backwardness,’’ chief justice DY Chandrachud and justice Manoj Misra said in their order.
On August 8, the previous council of ministers, also led by Saini, had made a reference to the Haryana SC commission, headed by former BJPlawmaker Ravinder Baliyala, to study data pertaining to Dalits in the state and make recommendations to facilitate subclassification of SCs.
A day after the model code of conduct was imposed, the then council of ministers on August 17 accepted the recommendations of the commission but stopped short of implementing it.
Haryana’s move flows from a landmark August 1 decision of the apex court, which ruled that state governments have the authority to create subclassifications within SCs and STs for the purpose of preferential reservations.
By allowing subclassification, the top court opened the door for states to identify and provide targeted benefits to the most disadvantaged subgroups within the broader SC/ST categories, provided they base their decisions on empirical evidence and rational criteria.
The decision by a seven-judge Constitution bench was passed with a 6-1 majority, with the court overruling the apex court’s earlier decision in the 2004 EV Chinnaiah case, which had held that subclassification within SC/STs was impermissible as it treated these groups as homogenous classes. The majority ruling acknowledged the social and economic diversity within SC/ST communities and allowed states to provide targeted benefits to the most disadvantaged subgroups, thereby promoting a more equitable distribution of affirmative action.
Holding that states can create subclassifications within SC/STs if there is a rational basis for doing so, such as inadequate representation of certain castes in public services, the majority verdict stated that the states must collect data on this inadequacy and demonstrate that it is linked to the caste’s backwardness. The judgment also stated that “the State must establish that the inadequacy of representation of a caste/group is because of its backwardness”.
In the Haryana case, the commission’s report said 36 Dalit castes that form the DSC group occupied only 35% share of class 1, 2 and 3 jobs reserved for SCs despite comprising 52% of the SC population in the state. In contrast, OSCs held48% share in the SC population of the state but occupied 65% of the class 1, 2 and 3 posts reserved for the SCs.
“This shows the stark difference of 30 percentage points in posts occupied by DSC (the 36 castes) and the other scheduled castes (OSC),’’ said the findings.
The commission said it clearly found that the reservations for SCs in groups A, B and C jobs were skewed towards OSCs and reservations for SCs in Group D was skewed towards DSCs.
“Group D has jobs related to sanitation and scavenging which are ascriptive (by birth) in nature and are mostly taken up by the castes included in deprived scheduled castes, especially the Balmikis. This needs to be broken to remove the ascription of occupation to birth,’’ the commission said.
The commission recommended that half of the 20% SC quota will be set aside for candidates from DSC. “If and only if suitable candidates from DSC were not available, then candidates from OSC may be considered for appointment to fill up the balance vacant posts and vice-versa,” the report said.
Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal said that the Haryana government’s decision of bifurcate 20% SC quota was an attempt to divide Scheduled Castes. “The BJP government has taken this decision to score brownie points. They have not studied this matter seriously,” she said.
Media secretary to the chief minister, Praveen Attrey of the BJP said that since the Supreme Court ordered the subclassification of Scheduled Castes, the state government implemented it after getting it examined by the state Scheduled Castes commission. “The aim of the government is to provide reservation in government jobs to the most deprived among the Scheduled Castes. Haryana has only a done subclassification of Scheduled Caste quota. The quantum of SC reservation has not been reduced,’’ Attrey said.
