Supreme Court sets aside Punjab & Haryana HC order staying Haryana law on 75% domicile reservation in private sector jobs

The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside an order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court staying the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020, which grants 75 per cent reservation in private sector jobs to persons domiciled in Haryana [State of Haryana v. Faridabad Industries Association]..The Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and PS Narasimha, however, also ordered the Haryana government not to take any coercive action 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 top court ordered. .Appearing for the State government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pointed out that similar legislation was passed in four other states. At this point, the Court asked,"Do you want us to transfer all the pending cases back here? Should we decide or decide on the stay and send [the matter back] to High Court?"SG Mehta suggested stay the Punjab & Haryana High Court order while he moves for transfer of all the cases to the Supreme Court. He further submitted that the Act was a means to regulate migrants from settling in other states..Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Faridabad Industries Association, intervened, saying,"Is this the way legislature can act? If this law is applicable for even a day, then there will be daily prosecutions. There are 9 lakh companies."Justice Narasimha replied,"Every State has its own legislation. We are not on merits. What we are on is how High Court immediately delivered am interim order."Dave then explained the consequences of enforcing the legislation."Even a law firm in Gurgaon will be affected and cannot employ juniors from other states unless they employ 75 percent juniors from Haryana itself. Definition of employer is sweeping."Representing the Manesar Employees Association, Senior Advocate Shyam Divan concurred, saying,"It will have profound impact on business...The Division Bench (of the High Court) considered it correctly. Let this be treated as ad interim order...Assuming there is no stay to be granted, they ought not to take any coercive steps.".The Court then said that it would offer interim protection to the associations, stating,"We will set aside the order, order no coercive steps and let the High Court decide in one month. We are protecting you."With a request to the High Court to decide the matter within four weeks, the Bench adjourned the case..Along with Dave, Advocate-on-Record Jeetender Gupta and Advocate Neha Sangwan appeared for Faridabad Industries Association..On February 3, a a Bench of Justices Ajay Tewari and Pankaj Jain of the Punjab & Haryana High Court admitted several petitions challenging the law, which provides 75 per cent reservation for local youth in private sector jobs with a monthly salary of less than ₹30,000 from January 15, 2022.This, after the Faridabad Industries Association, the IMT Industrial Association and Gurgaon Industrial Association and others challenged the Act. The petition by the Gurgaon body stated that the Act was against the provisions of the Constitution and the principle of meritocracy..The Haryana government immediately moved the Supreme Court in appeal. SG Mehta said that he was given only 90 seconds by the High Court to argue the matter after which the Division Bench of the High Court proceeded to admit the petition and stayed the law..Supreme Court to hear on Monday Haryana govt challenge to stay on domicile reservation for private sector jobs.[Read Order].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.