Reservation Under J&K Reservation Act 2004 Must Not Exceed Population Share Of Category: J&K High Court Clarifies

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has held that the percentage of reservation of a community under the J&K Reservation Act must not exceed the population share of that community.The court thus allowed the withdrawal of multiple petitions challenging the vires of various provisions of the J&K Reservation Rules, 2005, after observing that Section 3 of the parent Act was not under challenge in any of the petitions.A bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Rajesh Sekhri made the following clarification on the interpretation of Section 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004, noting that: “A plain reading of Section 3 clearly suggests that, for working out the extent of reservation in favour of a particular reserved category, the Government is required to take into consideration the total population of the said reserved category and the total population of the Union Territory so as to ensure that the percentage of reservation does not exceed the percentage that such category bears to the total population.”The Court was hearing a batch of petitions that challenged the vires of Rules 4, 5, 13, 15, 18, 21, and 23 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005, as amended by SO 176 dated 15.03.2024, SO 127 dated 20.04.2020, and SO 305 dated 21.05.2024.Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate M. Y. Bhat argued that if Section 3 is interpreted as merely relying on population percentage instead of actual representation in services and posts, it would run contrary to Article 16(4) of the Constitution of India, which provides for reservation in favour of backward classes that are not adequately represented in public employment.However, upon being confronted by the court that none of the pending petitions had challenged Section 3 of the Reservation Act, counsel for the petitioners sought leave to withdraw the batch of petitions with liberty to file a fresh petition directly challenging the constitutional validity of Section 3.Taking the statement of counsel on record, the court ordered that all these petitions except WP(C) No. 2864/2024 are dismissed as withdrawn, with liberty to file fresh one.APPEARANCE: Mr. M.Y. Bhat, Sr. Advocate with Mr. A.N. Parray, Advocate Mr. Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, present in person for PetitionersMr. Ab. Rashid Malik, Sr. AAG with Mr. Mohd Younis Hafiz, Assisting Counsel Mr. Numan Zargar, Advocate FOR Respondent.Case-Title: Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and Ors Vs UT of J&KCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (JKL) 278Click Here To Read/Download Order

Reservation Under J&K Reservation Act 2004 Must Not Exceed Population Share Of Category: J&K High Court Clarifies

Aleem Syeed

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