New Delhi: The Supreme Court last week set aside the Punjab and Haryana high court's interim order staying the Haryana law to grant 75% reservation for residents of the state in private sector jobs but also restrained the state government from taking coercive steps against any employer for not complying with the law.
A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and P S Narasimha also set a deadline of four weeks for the high court to decide the constitutional validity of the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 and deliver the final verdict. The bench also said that it was not proper for the HC to stay the operation of the law by passing a one-line order and without giving any reasoning.
Pressing for quashing of the HC order, solicitor general Tushar Mehta pleaded that staying a piece of legislation without giving a proper hearing and reasoning was "very harsh" as there is always presumption of the constitutional validity of a legislation. He said more than 38,000 workers and 900 establishments had registered under the law and clarified that the reservation was applicable to Class III and IV jobs and with salary up to Rs 30,000 per month.
The bench, however, observed that 75% reservation is "a major chunk" and the law has to be examined. Senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Shyam Divan, appearing for various associations of companies and industrial units operating in Haryana, contended that the law framed by the state was a very drastic legislation and affected the very idea of the Indian economy as a unit. They said that such a policy would not only affect their functioning and operations but it is also against the integrity of the country as other states will also bring similar laws to grant reservation on the basis of domicile.
