J-K govt passing the buck, says opposition on reservation rationalisation issue

Srinagar, Dec 3 (PTI) The opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday accused the government of "engaging in theatrics" and "passing the buck" on the issue of rationalisation of reservation.

The criticism came in the wake of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's statement earlier on Wednesday that his government has rationalised the reservation policy in the "best possible manner" to ensure justice to all sections and fulfil a key poll promise.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and People’s Conference hit out at the government over the issue.

"No rationalisation of reservation or age relaxation despite being promised as NC's manifesto guarantees and verbal assurances. Instead, the NC government is engaging in theatrics by playing pass the parcel and blaming both to absolve itself of any responsibility. No wonder youth across J&K are in utter distress and despair. Shameful," PDP leader Iltija Mufti said on X.

People's Conference chief Sajad Lone said the elected government "is passing on the buck", and "trying to create a wedge in the Kashmiri ranks, and pit one Kashmiri against the other".

"The elected government can easily restore district and divisional recruitment through an act in the assembly. Please, can someone enlighten me? What are the disadvantages of district and divisional recruitment? Why are we not restoring them?" he said in a post on X.

The Handwara MLA said in a developing economy, as is ours, public sector jobs get spread across all regions and bring in regional inclusivity in jobs.

"Reservations get restricted to only those reserved categories that are domiciled in the district or division. That will bring open merit in the Kashmir division to 70 to 80 per cent.

"Instead, if what has been stated so far and what has not been contradicted by the elected government so far, is true, the only reserved category where Kashmiris benefited, the RBA (Resident of Backward Area), will be slashed," he said.

The People's Conference chief said he fails to understand how that helps Kashmir.

"If we define the basic reservation problem, it would mean the systematic exclusion of Kashmiris in the recruitment process. You are yet again doing the same. But only changing the excluded Kashmiri. So if a Kashmiri named A was earlier excluded, you have substituted it with a Kashmiri called B," he said.

The problem, Lone said, lies between Jammu and Kashmir with the "dice loaded heavily in favour of Jammu".

"And between Jammu and Kashmir, the ratio will remain unchanged. 80 per cent reservations will still go to Jammu. Please take a pen and paper and do some calculations. The data is available in the answer that was provided by the government in response to my question on reservations," he added.

Reservations has become a major issue in Jammu and Kashmir following the central government's decision to add more communities to the reserved category and expand quotas in the union territory (UT) over the past five years.

There have been growing objections to the Centre's move to push the reservation quota to 70 per cent in the UT, following last year's announcements introducing a separate 10 per cent reservation for Paharis and other tribes and enhancing the OBC quota to eight per cent.

On December 10 last year, the government constituted a Cabinet sub-committee to look into grievances raised by various sections of aspirants against the existing reservation policy in the UT. The sub-committee forwarded its report in October, and accordingly, the report and its review by the law department were completed.

The matter was taken up at the meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday in Jammu. The government has now sent the proposal to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for approval.

However, the chief minister said it would be wrong to comment on the minutes of the Cabinet meeting before sending them to the LG.

"I will just say that we have tried to rationalise it as we have promised. We have also tried not to be unjust to anyone," the chief minister said. PTI SSB PRK PRK