Days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed a law guaranteeing 75% reservation in private sector jobs for residents of Haryana, several stakeholders, including industrialists, workers, contractors, and trade union leaders, are breathing a sigh of relief.
Vikas Gupta, general secretary of the Manesar Industries Welfare Association, which is one of the petitioners in the case, hopes that the verdict will prevent political outfits across the country from promising such laws.
“Why can’t someone from Uttar Pradesh get a job in Haryana? The law was against the spirit of the Constitution. I hope every State and political party gets this message loud and clear,” Mr. Gupta said.
The law, enacted by the Haryana government in 2021, made it mandatory for employers in the State to reserve 75% of jobs with a monthly salary of less than Rs. 30,000 (originally Rs. 50,000) for State residents.
Poll promise
Reservation in private sector jobs and Rs. 5,100 monthly old-age pension were two major poll promises of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which rules the State in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Both promises remain unfulfilled even as the State is scheduled for Assembly and Lok Sabha polls next year, and the JJP, which draws its support largely from the agrarian class (primarily the Jat community), is trying to reclaim its support base that was dented during the year-long farmers’ agitation in 2020.
JJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala has said that the State government will move the Supreme Court against the verdict.
However, many individuals such as Mr. Gupta, said the High Court verdict had given them the confidence to continue fighting the case if it comes up for hearing in the apex court.
‘Simply impractical’
Faridabad Industrial Association president Raj Bhatia said the industry was not opposed to hiring locals, but reserving three-fourths of the jobs for them was not practical as there weren’t enough skilled workers to meet the industry’s demand.
Echoing his views, Raj Kiran Yadav, a contractor supplying workforce to around a hundred companies in several States, including Haryana, said he and other contractors had a tough time meeting the demand for local workforce for the State’s industries.
“The minimum wages in the State are lower than those in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. It is one of the reasons why people from the State prefer to work outside. It was difficult to find enough workers for even half of the jobs reserved under the law,” Mr. Yadav said.
Satvir Singh, vice president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Haryana, termed the law “impractical” and a “political gimmick”.
He said it was an attempt to divert attention from the diminishing employment opportunities through the invocation of regionalism.
“If the government is really serious about providing jobs to the youth in the State, it should fill the vacancies in regular and contractual jobs in various departments such as Roadways, Animal Husbandry, Education, Health, and the municipal corporations,” Mr. Singh said.
Less industrialised areas
Vimlesh, a contractual worker at an automobile unit in Manesar and native of Bihar’s Araria, who supports a family of six, said the verdict had given hope to thousands of migrant workers in Haryana. Though the law had relaxed domicile requirements for migrants, Mr. Vimlesh said it was not easy for poor workers like him to get the necessary certificate.
“If every State has such laws, where will the workers from the less industrialised regions go?” he said.
