A larger bench of the Jharkhand High Court on Monday ruled that original residents of Bihar, including the ones living in Jharkhand, were not entitled to reservations in Government jobs in the State. Two of the three judges in the three-member-bench decided against giving reservation benefits to Bihar residents in Jharkhand.
Last year, an appellant originally from Bihar, Ranjit Kumar, had knocked the door of the court seeking reservation for the position of constable in Jharkhand police. Hearing the case, on October 18, 2019, the Jharkhand High Court had said that only original residents of Jharkhand were entitled for reservation in Government jobs in the State.
The appellant had said that he should not be denied reservation only on the basis of the fact that he is originally from Bihar. On this, the bench ruled that no resident of any other State can get reservation benefits in Jharkhand under the State’s policies. Jharkhand, earlier a part of united Bihar, became a separate State on November 15, 2000.
According to a report in an English daily, in March last year, a division bench of then Chief Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Ratnakar Bhengra had referred the matter to a larger bench. It had said that the question remains answered on whether a person born prior to November 15, 2000 in erstwhile Bihar and falling in the reserved category should get reservation in Jharkhand or not. The court also said that the benefits, if any, cannot be decided by one of the two States unilaterally.
The court’s decision on Monday will be applicable on all the people who are originally residents of Bihar, but are staying in Jharkhand.
The appellant, Ranjit Kumar had argued in the court that he has been living in Jharkhand since a long time and therefore he should be eligible for reservation in jobs.
His lawyer also said that Kumar belongs to a backward community as per the eligibility criteria for reservation in erstwhile and divided Bihar.
The court’s decision may also affect a large number of Biharis who have been living in Jharkhand since the days of erstwhile Bihar, sources said. Jharkhand still has a healthy population of Biharis, who were born within Jharkhand’s periphery before it became a separate State.