On Thursday, the honourable Supreme Court ordered to set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order that granted an interim stay on a law in the state of Haryana which provided a 75 per cent quota in private sector jobs for the residents of the state.
A bench of justices including L Nageswara Rao and Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha had also directed the government of Haryana to not take any coercive measures against the employers. The justices ordered that they did not intend to deal with the merits of the matter as they had proposed the High Court to decide expeditiously and not later than 4 weeks. Parties were directed not to seek an adjournment and were asked to be present before the court for fixing the schedule of the hearing.
Meanwhile, the government of Haryana was directed to not take any coercive measures against the employers. The challenged order that was passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana had been set aside by the apex court of the nation saying that the reasons were not sufficient for staying the legislation by the High Court.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had appeared for the government of Haryana. The order by the Supreme Court came after the Haryana Government had challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had granted an interim stay on its law that provided 75 per cent of the quota in jobs in the private sector for residents of Haryana.
On February 3, the High Court had granted an interim stay on the law based on pleas that were filed by several industry associations from Faridabad districts and other bodies of the state including the ones located in Gurugram. At the same time, the association of companies and industrial units were also opposing the law passed by the government citing it as a drastic law.
The opposition said that the very idea of the Indian economy was to function as a unit and any such policy could affect their operating in the state. The Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, in November last year had said that the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 would be made applicable from January 15, 2022. Although the act stated that the Act would be applicable for all jobs that offered a gross monthly salary up to Rs.50,000, it went to issue another notification last year that specified the upper cap had been brought down to Rs.30,000 only.
The Governor of Haryana, Bandaru Dattatreya had given his assent to the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, in March 2021. The quota of 75 per cent reservation in private-sector jobs in the state was one of the key promises made by the JJP Party during the campaigning of the elections.
