jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday informed the assembly that no deadline had been set for the three-member Cabinet sub-committee — formed last year to look into grievances against the current reservation policy in the Union Territory — to submit its report.
Social Welfare Minister Sakeena Itoo shared the information in a written response to a starred question by People’s Conference MLA Sajad Gani Lone, who had asked if a six-month deadline had been granted to the panel to review the existing policy.
The Cabinet sub-committee, headed by Itoo and including ministers Satish Sharma and Javed Rana, was constituted in December.
Reacting to the minister’s response, Lone highlighted “stark regional imbalances” in issuing reservation certificates in Jammu and Kashmir and alleged the entire concept of reservation in the Union Territory was “rigged” against Kashmir.
He cited the data he received in response to his question in the assembly to claim that the Jammu region dominated certificate issuances in nearly all categories from April 1, 2023.
Reservation has become a major issue in Jammu and Kashmir following the Centre’s decision to add more communities to the reserved category and expand quotas in the Union Territory during the past five years.
There are increasing objections to the Centre’s move to push reservation to 70 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Cabinet sub-committee stands constituted … to examine the grievances projected by a section of aspirants for various posts regarding reservation rules. However, no specific timeline has been fixed for submitting the report,” Itoo said in the House.
She said 5,39,306 (5.39 lakh) people from Scheduled Tribes (STs) — 4,59,493 (4.59 lakh) in Jammu division and 79,813 in Kashmir division — had obtained certificates since April 1, 2023.
During the same period, 67,112 Scheduled Caste (SC) certificates have been issued in the Jammu region.
The minister said 1,379 villages in Jammu and 1,229 in Kashmir had benefited under the Reserved Backward Area while 551 villages of the Jammu zone benefited under the International Border category.
Similarly, 268 villages in Jammu and 16 in Kashmir have benefited under the Actual Line of Control category.
The government has issued 27,420 certificates to people from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the Jammu division and 2,273 certificates in the Kashmir valley since April 1, 2023, the minister said.
Handwara MLA Lone, meanwhile, said the data revealed a vast regional disparity.
“It highlights stark regional imbalances in the issuance of reservation certificates across Jammu and Kashmir. The findings are a shocker,” he said at a press conference.
He said 100 per cent of the 67,112 SC certificates issued in the Union Territory had exclusively been in Jammu.
“The ST category showed Jammu issuing 4,59,493 certificates (85.3 per cent) while Kashmir issued only 79,813 (14.7 per cent). Similar imbalances exist for EWS — 92.3 per cent in Jammu and 7.7 per cent in Kashmir,” the People’s Conference supremo said.
“For the Actual Line of Control, 94.3 per cent certificates have been issued in Jammu and only 5.7 per cent in Kashmir, and 100 per cent in Jammu for International Border categories,” he added.
Even in the Reserved Backward Area category, Jammu led with 52.8 per cent of the certificates against Kashmir’s 48.2 per cent, Lone alleged.
The People’s Conference supremo said these disparities revealed a greater loss of quotas to the Kashmiri-speaking population than previously anticipated.
“The whole reservation concept is rigged against the Kashmiri-speaking population and against STs or EWS living in Kashmir,” he said.
Lone claimed even ST populations residing in Kashmir were disadvantaged, comprising only 15 per cent of total applicants from the pool.
Slamming the Cabinet sub-committee, he said it lacked a specific timeline for submitting its report despite previous indications of a six-month deadline.
“The biggest perpetrators are the officers in Kashmir who do not issue such certificates here but are issued in Jammu. Is it a policy or are they doing it on their own? I do not know,” he said.
Asserting he was not against reservation, the Handwara lawmaker said he was against the “murder of merit”.
“There is a reservation of 60 per cent. But within that reservation is a much bigger scam. It is a post-dated cheque for disaster. Kashmiris not making it to the KAS (Kashmir Administrative Service) or other exams is not because they are incompetent. It is the scourge of reservation that is killing their competence,” the People’s Conference chief said.
“If, for example, 100 candidates appear in an exam, 60 seats are reserved. Out of that, 50.78 seats are for Jammu and 9.22 for Kashmir. So, before you apply reservation, Kashmiris have already been crowded out,” he added.
He pinned the blame on all Jammu and Kashmir governments, saying this had silently carried on since 1989.
“Academically, it will take a century to undo the damage,” he added.
Lone said the People’s Conference would organise a seminar and invite academics to deliberate on the issue.