In the case of 10 per cent horizontal reservation in Government jobs for Uttarakhand Statehood activists, the high court of Uttarakhand has set the date of hearing on July 27. The case was taken up before the single bench of justice lokpal Singh here on Tuesday.
During proceedings in the case of empowerment of activists, it was stated that the government had issued two government orders to provide 10 per cent horizontal reservation for statehood activists in government jobs which is not right. It will be recalled that the case of job reservation for statehood activists was being heard by the high court division bench of justices Sudhashu Dhulia and UC Dhyani in the past. However, with the two judges comprising the bench reaching different opinions, the hearing of the case was referred to a three-judge bench. The Chief Justice of the high court referred the case to the bench of the third judge justice Manoj Tiwari.
But, the judge of the high court bench stated that he could not preside over hearing of the said case as he had been involved as an advocate of the high court in the proceedings of this case. After this, the case was referred for hearing to the high court bench of justice lokpal Singh where the date for hearing of the case has now been set for July 27.
It is pertinent to mention here that a number of organisations have been agitating for some time demanding reservation in government jobs and various other benefits for statehood activists. However, in recent years there has also been a growing opinion against the provision of such benefits to those identified as statehood activists.
Those opposed to provision of such special facilities aver that the Uttarakhand statehood movement was a public movement with mass participation. Only a limited number of people cannot be credited for a public movement which had elicited the active participation of the common masses from different parts of the region. Those opposed to the provision of special facilities also aver that similar facilities are not provided to activists in the states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh –states which were formed along with Uttarakhand in 2000.