AC approves 10% reservation for newly-added tribes

Jammu, Mar 15: The Administrative Council which met here under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha approved the proposal of the Social Welfare Department to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005, in light of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 dated December 15, 2023, Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024, Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024 and recommendations of Jammu and Kashmir Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission constituted vide Government Order No 2030-JK (LD) of 2020 dated March 19, 2020.

In light of the addition of four new tribes - Pahari ethnic group, Paddari tribe, Kolis, and Gadda Brahmins to the Scheduled Tribes Order as applicable to the J&K by the Parliament, the Administrative Council approved 10 percent reservation in favour of the newly added tribes taking the overall reservation for STs to 20 percent.

To ensure that both already notified and now newly added tribes get benefits of reservation equally and separately, the AC approved an equal and separate percentage of reservation for them – 10 percent each.

The AC also approved the addition of 15 new castes in OBCs and the enhancement of reservation in favour of OBCs to 8 percent, which would meet the long-pending demand of the OBC category in J&K.

It also approved changes in nomenclature and synonymy of some castes as recommended by the SEBC Commission.

Approval was also accorded to replace the term physically challenged persons or handicapped wherever appearing in the rules with the term Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) in conformity with the provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

These amendments would fulfil the long-pending demands of these communities regarding their right to adequate representation in government jobs and professional courses, which they stood hitherto deprived of, due to their social, educational and economic backwardness.

Advisor to LG, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar; Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo; and Principal Secretary to LG, Mandeep Kumar Bhandari attended the meeting.