‘Jats not to be counted as backward classes’, says plea; Delhi HC issues notice to Delhi Govt

At a time where the voices demanding caste-based reservation are only growing louder, the Delhi High Court recently witnessed a matter which fell at the opposite side of the reservation spectrum..The OBC United Front of India has moved the Court for quashing of a Delhi Government notification that included the Jat community under the state list of backward classes for NCT of Delhi..The plea which impugns the notification issued by the Govt on May 31, 2000 further goes on to say that a Central Govt notification which included Jats in the Central List of OBCs’ was successfully challenged in the Supreme Court and the Apex Court had set aside the notification..The petition also highlighted the decision taken in 2014 by the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) that had rejected the inclusion of Jats from the Central OBC list, to support its prayer for keeping the community outside the list of OBCs for Delhi..When the matter came up before RS Endlaw J. yesterday, the Petitioner’s Advocates Chetan Dutt and Raj Kumar pointed out the Apex Court decision to the Bench and argued that the Delhi Govt by issuing the said notification, had not followed suit..After hearing submissions, the Bench proceeded to issue notice to the Delhi Government and the Delhi State Backward Class Commission seeking their reply over the issue. The matter will now be heard on February 18.