Uttarakhand HC sets aside arbitrary reservation scheme for Andolankaris [Read Judgment]

The Uttarakhand High Court has set aside a 2004 reservation scheme initiated by the state government for a class of agitators referred to as andolankaris, for being violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution..Through circulars dated August 11, 2004, the government had introduced a “one-time reservation” in certain government jobs for persons who were either injured or remained in jail for seven days or more for their role in the agitation for a separate Uttarakhand state..One Karunesh Joshi had approached the High Court in 2007, seeking employment under the scheme. However, not only were petitions preferred by him dismissed, the Court also concluded that the circulars were liable to be quashed for violation of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution..While dismissing a review petition filed against this verdict, the appellate judge directed that the matter be placed before the Chief Justice to treat it as a Public Interest Litigation. This was in light of the judge’s concurring observations that the impugned circulars were not in consonance with Article 16 of the Constitution..The judges of the Division Bench, before which the case was posted thereafter, rendered dissenting judgments. Therefore, the case was referred to a third judge i.e. Justice Lok Pal Singh, who delivered the final verdict. The Court was assisted by Senior Advocate Arvind Vashishta..Among others, Senior Advocates MS Pal and SK Jain appeared for intervenors, assisted by Advocates Amir Malik, Siddhartha Jain, MC Pant and Mahesh Chandra Pant. Advocate Kumar Shah appeared in person as an intervener..The case was heard after the dismissal of preliminary objections raised by Advocate General SN Babulkar that, being a service matter, the case could not be treated as a PIL..Justice Singh observed that a PIL cannot be thrown away under the guise that it is a service matter. This was particularly so when government action affects the rights of every class, every citizen of the other classes of the Society. It was emphasised that,.“…no one should be left remediless and throwing a PIL on the ground that it pertains to the service matter therefore the PIL is not maintainable.”.As regards the main matter, Justice Singh observed that the andolankari reservation was initiated even before the government consolidated relevant data identifying such a class of eligible persons or the number of vacant jobs available for reservation. In the absence of such information, he opined that the reservation was not permissible under Article 16(4) of the Constitution..Theoretically as well, the creation of the class of andolankari was found to be violative of Article 14. This was held in light of submissions made that every citizen, more or less, participated during the agitation for Uttarakhand. As such, there was no way of knowing which of these people had sustained injuries to be eligible for reservation..It was further observed that the government was arbitrarily appointing persons of its choice under the guise of andolankari reservation. This was done through successive circulars, and despite its submission that the reservation was a one-time measure..In addition, the appointments were made in the absence of any guiding statutory provision and without even a competitive exam. Given these facts, the Court opined,.“…this is not even a reservation, but a form of gratuitous or compassionate appointment, which is clear violation of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India..…the classification of ‘andolankaris’ is not based on any intelligible differentia which can distinguish ‘andolankaris’ from the many left out of the group and secondly the classification has no rational relation with the object sought to be achieved. .Therefore, it can safely be said that the classification of ‘andolankaris’ is not based on any reasonable criteria and it has no nexus with the objects sought to be achieved.”.On these grounds, the impugned circulars were found liable to be quashed by Justice Singh..“As such, Circular Letter no. 1269 of 2004 dated 11.08.2004 has rightly been quashed along with all other orders in furtherance of the said Circular Letter. The ‘Uttarakhand Rajya Andolan Ke Ghayal / Jail Gaye Andolankariyon Ki Sewayojan Niyamawali, 2010’ has also been rightly set aside as unconstitutional and ultra vires.”.Read the Judgment: