New Delhi, Feb 17 : The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the interim order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court staying a Haryana law granting 75 percent reservation in private jobs on the basis of domicile. A Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao passed the order. “The State of Haryana is directed to not take any coercive steps against employers. The order passed by the High Court is set aside as the High Court has not given sufficient reasons for staying the legislation,” the apex court said. “We do not want to enter into the merits of the matter,” the Bench said, adding that the matter should be decided within four weeks. The Supreme Court also restrained Haryana from taking any coercive step against any company for not complying with the law.
The court asked the Punjab and Haryana High Court to decide the constitutional validity of the Haryana law within a month. Associations of companies and industrial units opposed before before the Supreme Court the Haryana law saying it was very drastic and affected the very idea of Indian economy as a unit and that such a policy would affect their functioning and operations in the state.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered a stay on the implementation of domicile reservation in private jobs in Haryana. Earlier, the state government ordered that 75 per cent of private jobs in the state be reserved for Haryana citizens. The Haryana Industries Association, the Faridabad Industrial Association and others moved the High Court against the government. The Haryana government then filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Punjab and Haryana High Court stay on the reservation in private sector jobs.
