New Delhi: The Rajasthan Assembly has passed the quota bill providing reservation to the Gurjar community.
The Assembly passed the bill by voice vote on Wednesday night.
The Bill provides five per cent quota to Gurjars, Banjaras, Gadia Lohars and Raikas under the special backward class category.
It also reserves 14 per cent for the economically backward, including those from forward castes.
The Bill was brought following large-scale protests by Gurjars demanding the community's inclusion in the ST category.
Despite the opposition Congress party supporting the bill, some of the party's MLAs including C P Joshi, Jagannath Paharia, Harimohan Sharma termed it as a bill in haste and under the pressure of Gurjar community's agitation which claimed about seventy lives in 2007-2008.
After the bill was passed unanimously, the House made a consensus resolution that the Central government should include the very bill in the 9th schedule of the constitution so that it could not be challenged anywhere in the court.
State Law Minister G S Twari said the bill provide reservation of seats in educational institutions in the state and appointments and posts in the services under the state in favour of the Scheduled Casts (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Backward Classes, and Economically Backward Classes and for the matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
"The total reservation percentage would not go beyond 68 per cent," he said.
The provisions of this bill shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions contained in any other act, Tiwari said.
Without disturbing the quota percentage of SC: 16 per cent, ST: 12 per cent and OBC: 21 per cent, the bill extends quota benefit of 5 per cent to four castes of Gurjars, Banjara, Gadia Lohars, and Raika, and 14 per cent to EBCs including Brahmins, Rajput, Vaishya, Mathur etc.
As many as 40 people were killed in the month-long protests both this year and the last.
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