Gujjars Given Reservation by Rajasthan Government

To pacify Gujjar agitation, Rajasthan state cabinet on 28 December 2010, in Jaipur, decided to reserve four percent government job vacancies for special backward classes (SBCs) including the Gujjar community. According to the Rajasthan state cabinet decision, the word notionally reserved would be replaced by the word reserved.

Earlier, a division bench of Rajasthan High Court comprising Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Mahesh Bhagwati in its judgment had denied reservation to gujjars on the basis that doing so would take the total reservation quota in Rajasthan to 69 percent and thus exceeding the 50 percent reservation limit set by the Supreme Court of India. The High Court judgment put a stay on the Rajasthan government 2008 Act, under which Gujjars, Gadia Luhars, Raibaris ,Banjaras and other castes, all categorised as SBCs, were given 5 percent quota. The court’s judgment also directed the state to do a data collection exercise on the economical status of Gujjars to justify the reservation for them and stayed the one percent reservation given to them by the ongoing recruitment drive in government jobs. The 2008 act also had a provision to give 14 percent reservation for economically backward classes.

Gujjars, under the leadership of Kirori Singh Bainsla, are demanding 5 percent quota in government jobs and educational institutions in Rajasthan and Schedule Tribe (ST) Status as well.

 According to the Supreme Court of India, the reservation given to backward classes, most backward classes and the schedule castes and schedule tribes in job and education sector should not exceed 50 percent limit.