The Administrative Council which met here under Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha approved the proposal of Social Welfare Department to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005 in light of Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 dated 15.12.2023, Constitution (Jammu & Kashmir) Scheduled Castes Order (Amendment) Act, 2024, Constitution (Jammu & 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 19.03.2020.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor; Atal Dulloo, Chief Secretary, J&K; Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.
In light of addition of four new tribes i.e. 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% reservation in favour of newly added tribes taking the overall reservation for STs to 20%. In order 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 i.e. 10% each.
The AC also approved the addition of 15 new castes in OBCs and enhancement of reservation in favour of OBCs to 8%, which will meet the long pending demand of the OBC category in the UT. It also approved change in nomenclature and synonymy of some castes as recommend 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 in conformity with the provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
The said amendments shall fulfill 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 economical backwardness.(KNS)
