The Haryana government will move the Supreme Court against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order quashing a law that provided 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs to residents of the state, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala Saturday said. “We are examining the high court verdict and will soon move the Supreme Court,” Chautala said. Providing 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs for state-domiciled candidates was a key poll promise of Chautala's Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) during the 2019 Assembly polls and the high court verdict has come as a setback as Haryana heads for elections in 2024. “The law was enacted in the interest of industry and youth of the state. This law is extremely important for the benefit and development of youth and also the industrial sector. It was enacted only after holding detailed discussions with the industrial sector. Earlier too, the high court had put a stay on this Act but Haryana government had approached Supreme Court. The top court had then directed the high court to pronounce its verdict. Now, the high court has raised two objections while quashing the law. Our team of advocates is studying the verdict,” Chautala added. In its 83-page judgment, a bench of Justices G S Sandhawalia and Harpreet Kaur Jeewan held the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020, "ultra vires" and "unconstitutional", and ruled that it will become "ineffective from the date it came into force". The verdict came on multiple petitions filed by several industrial associations against the implementation of the Act. The law, which came into effect on January 15, 2022, provided 75 per cent reservation in jobs in the private sector to candidates from the state. It covered jobs offering a maximum gross monthly salary or wages up to Rs 30,000. The Act was applicable to employers of the private sector companies, societies, trusts, limited liability partnership firms, partnership firms and any person who employs 10 or more people on salary, wages or other remuneration for manufacturing, carrying on business or rendering any service in Haryana. Justifying the law, Chautala said, “The government's aim is to increase employment opportunities for youth of the state. The industry too gets skilled work force. The industrial sector and government will have to work with each other in state's interest”. In its order, the bench said that the “underlying object of the legislation.is to create an artificial gap and a discrimination qua the citizens of India” and observed that it is beyond the purview of the state to legislate on this issue and restrict private employers from recruiting from the open market for the category of employees who were receiving less than Rs 30,000 per month. "It (the state) cannot as such discriminate against individuals on account of the fact that they do not belong to a certain state and have a negative discrimination against other citizens of the country," the court said. The court also observed that the concept of constitutional morality has been openly violated by introducing a secondary status to a set of citizens not belonging to the state of Haryana and curtailing their fundamental rights to earn their livelihood. It added that there is a bar under the Constitution on discrimination among citizens in matters of employment on the basis of their places of birth and residence.
