Will defend job reservation law strongly: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar
Chandigarh, Feb 3: Hours after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday granted an interim stay on a Haryana law providing 75 per cent reservation for state residents in private sector jobs, CM Manohar Lal Khattar said his government will fight the case strongly.
Haryana's Additional Advocate General Jagbir Singh Malik had earlier in the day said the state will be filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the order before the Supreme Court.
The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 had come into force on January 15 and it applies to state residents with monthly income less than 30,000.
The HC order granting the stay came on pleas filed by an industries association from Faridabad and other associations from Haryana, which dubbed the law as unconstitutional.
"The High Court has granted stay, but we will fight the case strongly," Khattar told reporters in Karnal.
Replying to a question, Khattar said, "We have been striving for employment opportunities for Haryanavi youth".
Khattar recalled that a few years ago petitions were filed against a Haryana law, which fixed minimum educational qualification for candidates contesting panchayat polls but later the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of that law.
"Even at that time we moved the Supreme Court and that law was upheld and later implemented," Khattar said.
Likewise, in this case too we will fight it strongly, the CM added.
After the High Court granted the interim stay, Deputy Chief Minister and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala tweeted, "We will continue to fight for employment opportunities of Haryanvi youth #75%reservation".
Jannayak Janta Party leader Digvijay Chautala said the stay should not be seen as a setback in any manner and added the government will file its reply.
Meanwhile, the Congress slammed the state's BJP-JJP government over the issue, with senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda criticising it for failing to defend the law in the court.
Hooda said the state government completely failed on the unemployment front.
"First the BJP, and then the BJP-JJP coalition, have not been able to formulate any effective policy to overcome unemployment. To divert attention from this, the government then gave the 'jumla' of giving 75 percent reservation to youth of the state in private jobs, but this government could not even defend this in court, he said in a statement.
Citing the latest Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy data, he said "The youth of Haryana is facing almost three and a half times more unemployment than the whole country's average but while shunning its responsibility, the state government is turning away from this reality."
"Instead of accepting the truth, the government is rejecting the figures of the CMIE while the BJP is seeking votes in UP on the basis of the data of this institution," he said.
"It is a matter of great surprise that the government would neither accept the CMIE figures nor the official figures of the National Statistical Office, nor would it itself have released any clear official figures on unemployment," the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly said.
Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja said intentions of the BJP-JJP government were in doubt from the very beginning.
"This is the reason why the government did not fight the case strongly in the court," Selja said in a tweet.
Confederation of Indian Industry (Haryana) Chairman Rajiv Gandhi said ever since the enactment of this Act, the CII has had various discussions with the government.
"The CII instead proposed to focus more on making Haryana youth more skilled to make them more employable. The CII has always assured the state government of its support for enhancing employability of the state's youth. This rather is an opportunity for industry and industry associations to come forward and collaborate with the state government for making youth of Haryana more employable," he said in a statement.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
