Rajasthan: Gujjar community back under OBC category

Jaipur: With the Gujjar community set to be included under the OBC category, Rajasthan Social Justice and Empowerment, Minority Affairs Minister Arun Chaturvedi on Saturday assured that the main motive of the Rajasthan government is to protect the jobs of the five castes in the state.

"Till Special Backward Class (SBC) law is not passed, the five castes will be benefited under the Other Backward Caste (OBC) category," Chaturvedi told ANI.

He said that the government has already filed the SBC bill and that they are trying to pass the bill as soon as possible.

The Rajasthan government on Saturday assured that Gujjars and four other castes will be included back in the fold of OBC category and gain the benefits of reservation.

The Rajasthan High Court had earlier struck down the Special Backward Class Reservation Act, 2015 under which these castes were given reservation.

The Rajasthan Social Justice and Empowerment Department today in a notice declared that five castes -- Banjara/Baldia/Labana, Gadia-Lohar/Gadalia, Gujjar/Gurjar, Raika/Rebari and Gadaria (Gaadri) - have again been re-included in the OBC list.

These communities were initially included in the OBC list in 1994.

A SBC law granted five percent quota in government jobs and educational institutions under the SBC category to four communities.

Later, this reservation ran into legal issues and the High Court put a stay on the reservation in 2009 stating that it was exceeded the legal ceiling of 50 percent.

The Rajasthan State Assembly in September 2015 passed another Rajasthan Special Backward Classes Bill to give 5 percent providing reservation to the five castes. After which, the overall reservation in the state reached 54 percent. 

The High Court had to again scrap the Act last year, saying there were no extraordinary circumstances to allow the state`s overall reservation in government jobs and education institutes to go beyond the 50 percent cap set by the Supreme Court.