Can A State Restrict Employment On The Basis Of Domicile?: Punjab & Haryana High Court To Examine

While putting an interim stay on the implementation of Haryana state's law providing for 75% reservation for state domicile in the private sector, the Punjab and Haryana High Court underscored that the core issue which is to be examined is - whether any State can restrict employment (even in the private sector) on the basis of domicile.The stay on the law came from the Bench of Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Pankaj Jain on a bunch of Writ petitions challenging the vires of the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act 2020.After hearing Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India on behalf of the State of Haryana, the High Court on February 3 admitted the Writ Petitions and granted a stay on the operation of the Act.Importantly, before the Court, the first argument made by the Solicitor General of India was that there is always a presumption of constitutionality of a statutory provision and though the writ Court has ample jurisdiction to ultimately hold that a statutory provision is unconstitutional yet interim orders should not be granted. His second argument was that there is an insinuation that this law would affect even existing employees which is incorrect. The law is prospective and it saves all the existing staff. The third argument was that about 38,000 registered domicile workers and about 900 establishments have registered under this Act and this itself shows that it is only a handful of people who are opposed to the implementation of the Act.However, identifying the core issue as mentioned above, the court granted an interim stay on the operation of law and posted the matter for further hearing on April 18, 2022.The Court also noted that the written statements have only been filed in 3 petitions, therefore, the state of Haryana was granted Four weeks time to file written statements in the other connected matters. Read more about the case here: Punjab & Haryana High Court Stays Haryana Law Granting 75% Job Quota For Locals In Pvt SectorSignificantly, on February 4, the State of Haryana filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court against the order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta mentioned the petition on Friday before the Chief Justice of India for urgent listing."After hearing me for 90 seconds they admitted the petition & stayed statutory enactment. The order hasn't come out. Kindly list on Monday subject to me placing the order", Solicitor General submitted.The CJI agreed to list the petition next Monday (February 7) subject to the placing of the order.Case title - Faridabad Industries Association v. State of Haryana and anotherClick Here to Read/Download Order

Can A State Restrict Employment On The Basis Of Domicile?: Punjab & Haryana High Court To Examine

Sparsh Upadhyay

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