Hours before the Model Code of Conduct came into force, the Punjab Cabinet on late Tuesday evening approved the ‘Backward Class’ status to the Jats and Jat Sikhs of the State.
The Cabinet also decided that economically weaker persons from among the general categories would also be extended the benefits of reservation which would be in addition to the reservations already in place and would not affect the existing quota of section. To work out the modalities for the implementation of its decisions, the Cabinet has set up a Commission.
The decision came days after the Union Cabinet, on March 2, decided to include the Jat community in the central list of ‘Other Backward Classes (OBCs)’ in nine States including Haryana and Rajasthan. Punjab’s former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who is also the president of All-India Jat Maha Sabha, on Monday blamed the Badal Government for not taking up the Jat quota issue with the Centre, as a result of which the community members in Punjab would be divested of benefits by the decision.
Amarinder had all along been asking the Badal Government to give representation to the Centre for including Punjab in the list. Centre had recently announced its decision to extend OBC status to Jats of Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Delhi. Strongly condemning Centre’s decision to exclude Jats and Jat Sikhs of Punjab from the benefits of reservation extended to these communities in other States, the State Cabinet passed a resolution describing Centre’s decision as “totally unjustified and step motherly”.
Punjab Council of Ministers held its emergent meeting a day before the Election Commission of India announced poll dates on Wednesday and model code of conduct would came into effect.