The Rajasthan High Court has stayed the operation of a new law providing 19 per cent reservation to Gujjars, Raicas, Banjaras and the newly-created economically backward classes in the State. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Jagdish Bhalla and Justice M.N. Bhandari passed the interim order after an epistolary petition was filed by some students of Rajasthan University, spearheaded by one G. Sharma.

The legislation had created a special backward class comprising Gujjars, Raicas and Banjaras, essentially nomadic tribes, and allotted them a 5 per cent reservation in government jobs and admission to educational institutions. It had also created an economically backward class with a reserved quota of 14 per cent, raising the total reservation in Rajasthan to 68 per cent.

The High Court stayed the operation of the legislation on the grounds that the total reservation quota exceeded the limit of 50 per cent fixed under the "settled legal provisions." The High Court referred to the Indira Sawhney judgment of 1992 which had imposed a ceiling of 50 per cent for reservation. Senior Counsel and Advocate General G.S. Bapna has been asked to reply to the PIL on behalf of the State.

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