The former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal, has planted a time bomb for the National Front Government on the reservation issue.
At his instance, the Haryana Government set up a three member Haryana Backward Classes Commission whose task for all practical purposes would be to declare the entire agricultural community in Haryana as backward for the purposes of reservation in government services.
‘The state government’s decision has come as a surprise not only because it has been taken in an unusual hurry but also because it reflects a complete reversal of the government’s earlier stand on the Mandal Commission and reservations.
The government appeared to be under great pressure for setting up the commission. It completed the entire process of formally initiating the proposal getting it legally examined, selecting members and announcing the formal constitution of the commission in a single day. The commission has been asked to submit its report by October 31 Mr Devi Lal rang up the Chief Minister Mr Hukam Singh, from Delhi on the morning of September 4 asking him to make an announcement in the State Assembly the same day declaring all agricultural communities in Haryana as backward. Apparently, the Chief Minister expressed his inability to comply with Mr Devi Lal’s directive the same day which was the last day of the two day Assembly session. He wanted some time to complete the for malities.
The implications of the government’s action on Mr Devi Lal’s directive can be gauged from the fact that if all the agricultural communities, such as Ahir, Gujar, Saini, Jat, Jat Sikhs, etc are declared backward, almost the entire rural population of Haryapa which, according to 1980 census, ‘was 78 per cent of the total population plus a section of the urban population would be identified as backward and entitled to reservation in government services.
Such a situation, it is felt will have far reaching implications for the Centre as had happened in that case of the loan waiver, which was first initiated by Mr. Devi Lal in Haryana three years ago and had adopted it, it is another matter that the scheme was only a partial success as against the declaring of waiving loans worth over Rs 260 crore, the Haryana Government could waive only about Rs 45 crore of loans.
While announcing the constitution of the commission, the chief minister, welcomed the implementation of Mandal Commission report by the Central Government.
He said that the three member commission headed by Mr Justice. Gurnam Singh a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Mr Mohri Ram Kamboj and Mr Sadhu Ram Saini as members would identify socially, economically and educationally backward classes from the citizens of Haryana, particularly from agricultural communities so that people who are socially, economically and educationally backward from these classes may be given the benefit of reservation in government services.
The latest stand of the Haryana Government is a reversal of its earlier stand on the Mandal Commission and reservation issues. The government had written to the Centre in 1982 as also last month that the government did not want Constitutional quotas.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 14, 1990
