Job Reservations for Locals

Job Reservations for Locals

Subject – Polity

Context – Jharkhand clears Bill on 75% quota for locals.

Concept –

• The Jharkhand Assembly passed a Bill, The Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates in Private Sector Bill, 2021, which provides 75% reservation for local people in the private sector in jobs with a monthly salary of up to ₹40,000.
• Once notified, Jharkhand will become the third State in the country, after Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, to pass such a law.

‘Locals First’ Policy –

• It implies that jobs that will be created in a state will be first offered to only people who belong to that state.
• This policy is also the result of the fear of some locals who believe that their jobs are being taken away from them and provided to the people not belonging to the state.
• Besides Andhra Pradesh, there is a law in Maharashtra that if any industry that gets an incentive from the State Government, then 70% of people at a particular level (basically unskilled workers of that industry) have to be locals.
• The states in support of such a policy provides an argument that it is the state’s responsibility to fulfill aspirations of its people, also since the state is providing incentives, the industries should not have any problem in following its directions.

Constitutional Provisions related to reservations in employment –

The constitution under Article 16 and Article 371 mentions the Reservation in jobs.

1. Under Article 16, there were 3 sub-clauses dealing with the job reservation. They are,
   • 16(1): It provides for equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to ’employment or appointment’ to any office under the State.
   • 16(2):It provides that there cannot be any discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them.
   • 16(3):It provides an exception by saying that Parliament may make a law “prescribing” a requirement of residence for jobs in a particular state. This power vests solely in the Parliament, not state legislatures.
2. Article 371:Some states have special protections under Article 371. Andhra Pradesh under Section 371(d) has powers to have “direct recruitment of local cadre” in specified areas.

Supreme Court Judgements regarding reservation in private jobs

1. Pradeep Jain v Union of India (1984) case: The Supreme Court discussed the issue of legislation for “sons of the soil”. Further, The court held an opinion that such policies would be unconstitutional but did not expressly rule on it.
2. Sunanda Reddy v State of Andhra Pradesh (1995) case: The Supreme Court repeated its earlier interpretation in Dr Pradeep Jain case. Further, the court strikes down the state government policy that gave 5% extra weightage to candidates who had studied with Telugu as the medium of instruction.
3. The Rajasthan government gave preference to “people belonging to the concerned district or the rural areas of that district” in appointments. But, the Supreme Court in Kailash Chand Sharma Vs State of Rajasthan, 2002invalidated the appointment of government teachers in Rajasthan.
4. In 2019, the Allahabad High Court struck down a recruitment notification issued by the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Service Selection Commission. The commission prescribed preference for women who were original residents of the state in job appointments.