Plea in Bombay High Court seeks reservation policy for UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu residents

The Bombay High Court on Monday sought response from the Union Territory (UT) of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in a plea seeking directions to provide reservation for residents belonging to the scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and other backward classes (OBCs) in the UT..The public interest litigation filed by a citizen, Vilas Chaudhry, sought to fix reservation for the residents of the Union Territory and "ensure they get opportunity to apply on the reserved posts/ vacancies, whether permanent or temporary or project based". .The erstwhile UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and the erstwhile UT of Daman and Diu had been merged in 2020 to create a single UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu..The plea stated that the erstwhile UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli had reservation to the extent of 43 per cent for residents belonging to the ST category which formed a majority of the population. Similarly, the erstwhile UT of Daman and Diu had reservation to the extent of 27 per cent for OBC residents. Those reservations were made on the basis of permanent posts/ vacancies or on a contract basis or on project-based employment, and there were office memorandums issued on this. However, despite these OMs there were advertisements issued for appointments on regular or temporary basis without reserving posts for any backward community..Chaudhry stated that while the appointments already made could not be disturbed due to the present plea, the authorities were yet to proceed with advertisements made prior to January 26, 2020 before the merger of Union Territories.He, therefore, prayed for judicial intervention to not only provide required reservation for the candidates of the newly-formed UT but to ensure that reservation is followed. .In the petition filed through advocate Chetan Mali, it was submitted that the erstwhile Union Territories were no longer in existence, all the actions taken by it and not complete till date ought to proceed in terms of changed circumstances. Therefore the respondents, instead of going ahead with the selection process commenced pursuant to advertisements, ought to fix policy for the Union Territories, the plea stated. .On a specific application to the UT Administration, the petitioner received a response that no reservation policy had been framed. The plea pointed out that there is no saving clause in the act which provided for proceeding ahead with the advertisement issued by the UTs, but giving a go-bye to that, the authorities proceeded with advertisements issued by the UTs and accordingly called candidates for examinations commencing from August 3, 2021. .The plea prayed for a reservation policy as the reservation provided in the erstwhile UTs took away employment opportunities from majority of residents who belong to backward communities. These actions are against the welfare schemes envisaged by the Constitution for backward community, the plea stated. The petitioner also prayed for cancellation of the advertisements issued for appointments, along with the framing of a new policy. It then proceeded to seek the Administration's response as to when a policy be framed.