Haryana High Court Strikes Down Socio-Economic Criteria, Puts 12 thousands of Recruitments at Risk

The Haryana government has suffered a major setback as the Punjab and Haryana High Court has struck down the reservation of 5 marks given in government jobs on the basis of socio-economic criteria, terming it unconstitutional. This ruling will impact the TGT recruitment as well as Group C and D hirings in the state. 

The Haryana government had introduced a provision to grant 5 additional marks to applicants from families without any government employee and with low income, on socio-economic grounds. However, a petition was filed challenging this reservation, arguing that the state government had gone against the Constitution by providing reservation on socio-economic criteria. 

During the hearing, the High Court made it clear that the decision to provide reservation on socio-economic grounds is against the Constitution. Consequently, the court quashed this provision and disposed of the petition. This paves the way for thousands of appointments in the state.

However, this verdict will also impact previous recruitments. According to advocate Ravinder Dhull of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, while appointments made before 2019 will not be affected, all recruitments after that will be impacted.

Dhull stated that the over 12,000 youths who were recently recruited under CET will be removed from their jobs. Additionally, all Group C and D recruitments that have taken place will have to be re-examined. However, the High Court has given the government a 6-month window to implement this, during which no one will be removed from their job. 

This verdict has dealt a major blow to the Haryana government, and its consequences will be felt by thousands of youths in terms of their employment. It remains to be seen how the government will tackle this decision and handle the issue of recruitments.