Delhi : SC quashed the HC’s stay on the law to give 75% reservation to local residents in the private sector in Haryana 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that had placed an interim stay on a Haryana law providing for 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs for residents of the state. The Supreme Court asked the High Court to decide the issue within a month and directed the state government not to take any coercive action against the employers for the time being.

A bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Pamighantham Sri Narasimha also directed the Haryana government not to take punitive action against the employers. “In the meantime, Haryana is directed not to take punitive action against the employers. The order passed by the High Court is set aside as the High Court has not given sufficient reasons to stay the law,” the bench said. Along with this, the Supreme Court has asked the High Court to take a decision on the matter in 4 weeks. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared on behalf of Haryana Government.

The order came on an appeal by the Haryana government challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had placed an interim stay on its law providing 75 per cent quota in private sector jobs for residents of the state. On February 3, the Punjab-Haryana High Court had stayed the 75 percent reservation given by the Haryana government to the residents of the state in private sector jobs. After this, the Haryana government challenged this decision in the Supreme Court on February 4. The Haryana government had filed a special leave petition (SLP). Referring to the petition before a bench of CJI NV Raman, the Solicitor General urged for its immediate listing. He said, after listening to me for 90 seconds, the High Court accepted the petition and stayed the statutory act.

It is to be noted that the Haryana State Local Candidates Employment Act, 2020 was notified on November 6, 2021. Under this, there is talk of providing 75 percent reservation to local candidates in private sector jobs with a salary of less than 30 thousand rupees. The Act was to come into effect from January 15, 2022. This law applies to all companies, societies, trusts, LLP firms, partnership firms and any employer employing ten or more persons. But it does not include the Central Government or the State Government or any organization owned by them.