In a significant move that could reshape Jammu & Kashmir’s reservation scenario, the Union Territory cabinet on Wednesday finalised the reservation structure after an extensive discussion on the report of the cabinet sub-committee and forwarded it to the Lt. Governor for approval.
The squeezed open merit quota in J&K has triggered intense political heat in recent months.
The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at his residence here, signalled that the government is set to recalibrate the quota system that has polarized communities and political parties across the region.
The cabinet examined the cabinet sub-committee’s report proposing an increase in the open merit (OM) quota, currently around 30%. The recommendations were deliberated for more than an hour, with ministers including Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary, Sakina Itoo, Javed Dar, Javed Rana, Satish Sharma, and Chief Secretary Atal Duloo present in the meeting.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Omar Abdullah refused to divulge details of the decision on the issue and said, “It will be wrong on my part to discuss decisions of the cabinet meeting before these are signed and forwarded to Lt Governor for approval. I can only say that an effort has been made as was promised with people to rationalise the reservation policy”.
He said the cabinet made every effort to ensure that the changes were fair and not disadvantageous to any section of society. “We took time and have worked to rationalize the reservation policy as promised, while also ensuring that no group feels discriminated”, the Chief Minister said.
The CM said the cabinet has made an effort to adopt a fair and transparent process in rationalising reservations.
The Chief Minister criticised the political flip-flops surrounding the issue. “This is an issue on which doing politics is very easy. Those who were attacking us for ‘doing nothing’ on reservations are now threatening agitation because we acted”.
The Chief Minister said the government’s review of the policy was exhaustive and repeated more than once. “This subject has come before the cabinet three or four times. The cabinet sub-committee spent nearly six months studying every aspect. We could not have gone deeper than this,” he said.
Reservation has become a flash point in J&K, with students and political parties demanding a balanced reservation policy. Ruling National Conference MP Aga Ruhullah had led a massive protest outside the residence of CM Omar Abdullah on the issue. The opposition political parties were also criticising the government for squeezing the open merit quota.
The reservation policy introduced by the Lt. Governor’s administration before last year’s Assembly polls raised the reserved-category quota to over 60%, reducing the open merit quota to about 30%.
Meanwhile, Peoples Conference president and MLA Sajad Lone alleged that the NC government is not only evading accountability on the reservation issue but is also aggravating internal fissures.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti wrote on X, “The NC government is engaging in theatrics by playing pass the parcel & blaming both to absolve itself of any responsibility. No wonder youth across J&K are in utter distress & despair”.