- The Rajasthan government’s move to give 5% reservation to Gujjars and four other nomadic communities in jobs and education citing them as being an “extremely backward class”, has been challenged in the High Court.
- The Petition was filed on the basis that (a) It breached the 50% ceiling on reservation laid down by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney judgment and (b)It cited the proportion of Gujjars’ population as per the last Census instead of referring to the quantifiable data of backwardness in education and public employment.
- Rajasthan Government had passed the Rajasthan Backward Classes Amendment Bill, 2019.The bill came in the backdrop of two similar bills passed in 2015 and 2017 which were struck down by the Rajasthan High Court.
- It seeks to increase the backward classes’ reservation from the present 21% (for OBC) to 26% with five per cent reservation to Gujjar and other four communities.The reservation now stands at 54 per cent defying the set ceiling of 50 per cent by the Supreme Court.
