Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday asked the Congress-led Punjab Government to immediately declare that it would not tamper with the current reservation policy in appointments and promotions in Government service to ensure the fundamental rights of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes communities were safeguarded at all costs.
“The reservation given to the SCs and STs should not be diluted in any way despite a recent judgment of the Apex Court which says States are not legally bound to provide reservation in government jobs and promotions,” said senior SAD leader and Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s former Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal.
He said that the Punjab Government should make an immediate declaration that it will stick to the current policy vis-Ã -vis reservation in Government jobs and promotions to dispel the fear that has arisen in the minds of the SC population.
“Simultaneously, we expect the Centre should also intervene in the same way as it did when the Apex Court had diluted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Parliament was extended by a day and the status quo was maintained by law. Such affirmative action is needed now also,” said Atwal.
Stating that reservation was a ‘fundamental right’ which had been granted to the SC and ST population under the Constitution, SAD leader said that this had been reiterated by a full bench of the Supreme Court.
Atwal said that reservation, under the Constitution, was an aspect of substantive equality which imposed a duty on States to provide it to those groups who were disadvantaged in different terms.
“SAD is of the firm belief that reservations should be read and interpreted as a part of protections and in the spirit guaranteed in Articles 14, 15, and 16 (4) of the Constitution.
Not doing so would be a grave injustice to the SC community,” he said adding that SAD would do its utmost to ensure this right was not snatched from the SC community.