SRINAGAR — Facing heat over its affidavit in the high court that has described a petition challenging its reservation policy as “mischievous and frivolous”, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday said it will file a fresh response before the court, if need be.
Addressing a press conference in Anantnag, Social Welfare Minister Sakina Itoo, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on the reservation issue, said the government is seriously committed to addressing the matter and the affidavit in question is vague.
The cabinet sub-committee was formed by the government in December last year to look into the grievances highlighted by several sections of the aspirants against the existing reservation rules in government jobs.
Itoo said the cabinet sub-committee is meeting youth representatives and examining the issue.
“The seriousness of the government can be gauged from the fact that the committee has been given a six-month deadline. Every day, the committee explains to the chief minister how many representatives it met and what developments took place,” she said.
Itoo said the government is sympathetic towards the issue and wants it to be settled.
“We want everyone to get his due share and that no injustice is done to anyone. The committee is working seriously. I have kept a meeting for tomorrow at the SKICC where the sub-committee will meet representatives,” she added.
On the affidavit submitted by the social welfare department in the high court that has termed the petition challenging the reservation policy “mischievous and frivolous”, the minister said it was “vaguely” prepared.
“Unfortunately, some politicians find opportunities to criticise the government. Had the government not been committed, why would it have formed a committee and given it a deadline of six months?
“If the government needs to submit a fresh affidavit in the court, in which it needs to be written that the wrongs committed will be set right, it will do it and not hesitate,” she said.
Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir slammed the National Conference (NC) government on Saturday for defending the reservation policy, which provides a 70-per cent quota to various groups, in the high court.
Itoo said the committee will submit its report within the six-month deadline and then the report will be implemented.
“I want to tell youngsters that these people want to use them for politics and befool them. I would ask these people to wait patiently for six months. If you do not have patience, visit a doctor, a psychiatrist and take some medicines,” she said, without naming anyone.
Meanwhile, the ruling NC has distanced itself from the affidavit.
“We do not support the affidavit. It has been submitted in a distorted way, without taking into consideration the ground realities,” NC state spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said.
He said the cabinet sub-committee was constituted to listen to the opinions of each and every side.
“The sub-committee will submit its report. We would request people not to go by such kind of diversions,” he said.
Dar said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah formed the sub-committee to address the insecurities shared by a number of individuals and its report will be implemented once it is placed before the council of ministers.
Earlier in the day, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) MLA from Pulwama Waheed Para alleged that the cabinet sub-committee is nothing but a “facade to mislead” people.
“The Jammu and Kashmir government now defends a deeply-flawed reservation policy in court. The so-called cabinet committee is nothing but a facade to mislead the public. Now, they’re seeking to dismiss the writ petition as baseless in another blatant attempt to sabotage the future of meritorious students in Jammu and Kashmir,” Para said in a post on X.
People’s Conference chief and Handwara MLA Sajad Lone said the government has not mentioned the formation of the cabinet sub-committee in its affidavit.
“Nowhere has the government mentioned the formation of a sub-committee on reservations. This is a legal mystery. Seems the government is not taking its own committee serious enough to merit a mention in its legal affidavit,” Lone said in a post on X. — (PTI)