The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the Haryana Government after latter’s decision to provide 33 per cent reservation to women and 50 per cent to rural candidates in the appointment of teachers and lecturers in the educational institutions was challenged before the court. The Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam issued the notice on a petition filed by one Mahender Kumar and 19 other candidates who challenged the Government’s quota notification on the ground that it was in excess of the stipulated 50 per cent quota ceiling fixed by the apex court in its past decisions. The petitioners have also questioned the rationale of the Government in classifying the Scheduled Castes into A and B categories, which they claimed as “impermissible” as per the provisions of the Constitution.The matter was mentioned before the court by advocate R K Kapoor, appearing for the petitioners who have challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court order of striking down the 50 per cent reservation for rural candidates. The HC had, however, upheld the 33 per cent reservation for women candidates and the classification within the SCs.The Haryana Government had come out with a notification in this regard on July 20, 2006 thereby amending the Haryana primary education, state education and state education lecturer school cadre rules for appointing teachers/lecturers to government institutions. According to the petitioners, such large percentage of reservation was a clear violation of the apex court’s rulings.
