Suggests reservation based on population, keeps 50% of Wards open
Population varied from minimal to 50 percent
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 28: The Jammu and Kashmir Local Bodies Dedicated Backward Classes Commission, which presented its report to Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo yesterday, has provided the Government with Local Bodies-wise data regarding Other Backward Classes (OBCs). This data indicated a presence ranging from nearly negligible to 50 percent, and the Commission has advocated for reservations according to their population in both urban and rural local bodies, wherein elections have been overdue for over a year.
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The Commission, led by Justice (Retired) Janak Raj Kotwal and including RK Bhagat, a former IAS officer, and Dr. Mohinder Singh Bhadwal, ex-Dean of SKUAST Jammu, is reported to have compiled data on OBC populations for every Panchayat and Municipality. This information will assist the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department in determining OBC reservations in Panchayats and Municipalities.
Jammu and Kashmir has over 4200 Panchayats and roughly 80 Local Bodies, including two Corporations (Jammu and Srinagar), all of which have been inactive for over a year due to delays in elections. The postponement of elections was triggered by a Central Government act that provided reservations for OBCs in rural and urban local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources indicate that the Commission utilized data provided by all 20 Deputy Commissioners in Jammu and Kashmir. Based on this data and the population of OBCs included in it, the Commission prepared its report, detailing reservations for OBCs on a Panchayat and Municipality basis.
Excelsior previously reported that the Panel is likely to recommend reservations for OBCs proportional to their population, ensuring that total reservations in local bodies do not exceed 50 percent under any circumstances.
Sources noted that the Commission has drawn on legal provisions available to recommend reservations for OBCs in Panchayats and Municipalities as per their population. They clarified that the Panel reviewed the Apex Court guidelines and other legal frameworks available to support its recommendations.
With some castes newly included in the OBC list, their population in some Local Bodies has surged to as high as 50 percent, whereas in other bodies, the OBC population remains almost negligible.
In addition to leveraging Deputy Commissioner data, the Panel chair and two members conducted field visits across Jammu and Kashmir to engage with stakeholders and gather on-ground data.
The Commission is believed to have recommended that reservations for SCs, STs, OBCs, and women should not surpass 50 percent. This stipulation means that half of the seats in Panchayats, Municipalities, BDCs, and DDCs will be retained for general category candidates.
In instances where the percentage quota reaches 50 percent in a local body comprising women, SCs, and STs, the OBCs will not receive reservations in that body, since SCs and STs are granted reservations by Constitutional provision, while OBCs receive theirs by statutory provision, as per the Panel’s suggestion.
Women have been granted a 33 percent reservation in all local bodies, which encompasses both SC and ST women. Additionally, SCs and STs have been afforded reservations in accordance with their population percentages.
In government jobs and educational institutions, the Government has allocated an eight percent reservation for OBCs.
The introduction of reservations for OBCs in these local bodies for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir has delayed elections to Panchayats and Municipalities, which were scheduled for October-November 2023.
Currently, Municipalities, Panchayats, and BDCs have not had elected members for more than a year. The Municipalities’ term expired in October-November 2023, while the Panchayats concluded their tenure on January 9, 2024. Because the term of BDCs was co-terminus with the Panchayats, they ceased to exist when the five-year term of the Panchayats lapsed.
In contrast, the District Development Councils, which held their inaugural elections in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2020, have a term until January 2026.
The OBC Commission was established on June 11 of last year by the UT Government to ascertain the OBC percentage in Panchayats and Municipalities, with the Chairman and members being appointed on July 31.
The Commission’s report will now pave the way for conducting elections in Panchayats and Municipalities, followed by those for BDCs.
