The final draft for the domicile policy has once again been deferred as the Domicile Drafting Committee yet again failed to evolve consensus on one of the most contentious issue vowing to meet again on March 4 to discuss the future course on the matter.
The meeting conducted on Tuesday at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat discussed all aspects of the policy which regional parties were clamouring from a very long time resorting violent protests at different points of time. The committee also discussed government job for locals which have been an issue dear to regional political parties.
“We discussed how to provide 100 per cent reservation to the people domiciled in the State in Class III and IV jobs without affecting others,” said Mandar MlA Bandhu Tirkey who is also in the committee.
Interestingly, the Government seems to be treading cautiously on the matter to avoid any litigation and is likely to contemplate legal implications of the Bill. A Press communiqué from the CM’s office said, members of the committee agreed to meet once again on March 4 to evolve consensus in which the Advocate General should also be called. “last draft was struck down in public interest litigation so we don’t want that to happen this time,” maintained Sarfaraz Ahmed, another member of the committee.
The committee has asked Principal Secretaries of Personnel Administrative Reforms & Rajbhasha, Information Technology and Cabinet Co-ordination to submit previous census reports besides presenting a comparative study of domicile policies elsewhere in the country. The committee also agreed to apprise all political parties once the final draft is ready. “We will call an all party meet before putting the draft in the cabinet,” pointed out Ahmed.
The meeting was also attended by Finance Minister Rajendra Prasad Singh, Transport Minister Champai Soren, HRD Minister Geetshree Oraon, MlAs Sanjay Singh Yadav, Vidyutvaran Mahto.