The Supreme Court on Wednesday has set aside Punjab and Haryana High Court order staying the Haryana government’s law on providing 75% reservation to the local people of Haryana in jobs in private sector.
The bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and PS Narasimha rejected the Special leave petition filed by the State of Haryana against the order of high court.
“We do not intend to deal with merits of matter as we propose to request the high court to decide expeditiously and not later than four weeks. Parties are directed not to seek adjournment and be present before court for fixing the schedule for hearing. In meanwhile, Haryana is directed not to take coercive action against employers. The impugned order passed by the high court is set aside as the high court has not given sufficient reasons for staying the legislation.”
Haryana government had challenged the High Court’s order which stayed the law of the state government of Haryana to reserve 75 percent for local candidates in private sector jobs that offer a salary of less than ₹30,000 a month. The government had knocked the door of the Supreme Court on February 4. The argument of the Manohar Lal Khattar led Haryana government was that the high court passed the order within 90 seconds and the lawyer representing the government was not even heard properly.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state argued that the law would solve the problems of slum and poverty.
“The law would ensure people do not have to move elsewhere (for jobs) and it would also solve the problem of slums.”
The vires of the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act 2020 were challenged. Th act, applies to all companies, societies, trusts, Limited Liability Partnership Firms, Partnership Firms, and any person employing ten or more than ten persons. However, the act excluded the Central government or the state government or any organisation owned by them.
The state government in its petition stated that the act aims to achieve the objective of providing suitable employment to the local candidates in the private sector.
“The act makes a valid classification by grouping together local candidates who are unemployed and domiciled in Haryana, irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, place of origin or place of birth and their social status. The act makes a geographical classification on the basis of domicile and in furtherance of the fundamental right to live, livelihood and health conditions of persons domiciled in the state.”
The apex court noted that the Haryana high court did not record any valid reasons for its stay order, therefore, it decided to set it aside and requested the high court to make a decision within four weeks.
The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 was passed in November, 2021 and it came into effect on January 15. Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana Dushyant Chautala claimed that the law would provide employment to thousands of young men and women in the state.
However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had put an interim stay on the law of Haryana government which provided 75 percent reservation to local candidates in private sector jobs.