The hearing of a petition for the rationalisation of reservation policy in Jammu & Kashmir, which was listed today, April 15 has been deferred by the Jammu & Kashmir High Court due to time constraints.
The petition, which was filed in December 2024, argues for the cancellation of the existing 67 per cent reservation policy of the state, deeming it “unreasonable and illogical”, and for revision of the framework through review by an independent committee.
On April 6, in a counter-affidavit to the High Court, the Government of Jammu & Kashmir sought the dismissal of the petition, three months after it set up a sub-committee to look into the reservation policy of the state.
As this resulted in public backlash from opposition parties and students from the general category, the Union Territory’s Minister for Education Sakina Itto called for a meeting with all concerned stakeholders, including representatives from communities in the open-merit and from reserved categories on April 13.
This development ignited hopes among open-merit students of a possible change in the government’s stance on the matter, which could be reflected in today’s hearing.
However, ahead of the hearing, Nasir Kuhemani, the National Convener of the Jammu & Kashmir Students’ Association (JKSA) took to X (formerly known as Twitter) this morning to inform that neither the Advocate General nor the Assistant Advocate General of the Government were instructed to file a fresh affidavit with their changed stance, nor withdraw the Government’s original affidavit.
While an additional affidavit was filed anyway, it turned out to be a mere extension of the original affidavit. The government informed the court, through the additional affidavit that a three-member sub-committee was formed by the government of J&K, and that it is to submit its report in six months.
“We had hoped that the affidavit would be the government correcting its stance on the matter, but no such thing happened,” Nasir told EdexLive.
He added that the government, in trying to be in the good books of all stakeholders involved, has developed a contradictory stance on the reservation matter.
“The government keeps contradicting itself and backtracking on the reservations issue. There is no clear and defined line followed by the Chief Minister, his cabinet ministers, other leaders or his party spokespersons,” he explained.
The next date for hearing is yet to be finalised, he informed.
In the meanwhile, he urges Omar Abdullah, the Chief Minister of the Union Territory to heed the students’ demands and withdraw the previous petition.
He further clarifies that his organisation, as well as other organisations fighting against the reservation issue, are not against the government, or affirmative action.
“We have a popular government, for whom the people of Jammu & Kashmir voted en masse, after six years of Babu Raj (rule of bureaucrats). During the Lieutenant Governor's administration, there was no way we could approach the bureaucrats or hold them accountable. We hope that a democratically elected government has that accountability,” he added, stating that students are willing to support the government when they need it.
