Women got Legal Right to Horizontal Reservation in Uttarakhand, Governor Approved the Bill

• 11 Jan 2023

Why In News?

• On January 10, 2023, The Governor of Uttarakhand, Lt. General Gurmit Singh (Retd.) approved the Uttarakhand Public Service (Horizontal Reservation for Women) Bill, 2022. The bill has been sent from Raj Bhavan to the legislative department, whose gazette notification will be issued soon.

Key Points

• Fourteen bills were sent to Raj Bhavan for approval. Of these, 12, including women's reservation, have been approved, while the Indian Stamp Uttarakhand Amendment Bill and The Haridwar University Bill are yet to get approval from the Raj Bhavan.
• With the approval of the Governor, women in Uttarakhand have got the legal right to provide 30 percent horizontal reservation in government jobs. The benefit of reservation will be available to all those women who have a domicile of Uttarakhand state. Of course they are residing in any place outside the state.
• On November 30, 2022, the state government had unanimously passed the bill in the Assembly and sent it to The Raj Bhavan. During the winter session of the Assembly, 14 bills were passed in the House. Most of them were amended bills, including the Women's Reservation Bill.
• In fact, most of the bills were approved by the Raj Bhavan, but the Women's Horizontal Reservation Bill remained under consideration. The Raj Bhavan examined the bill by justice and legal experts before approving it. This took a month for the bill to be approved.
• The High Court had stayed the state public service commission's orders granting 30 per cent horizontal reservation to women candidates of Uttarakhand origin in the examination conducted for the posts of Uttarakhand Combined Senior Service. Pavitra Chauhan from Haryana and other candidates had filed this petition.
• The state government challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court. On the government's special grace petition, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court's decision. In this way, the reservation remained intact. The supreme court is scheduled to hear the matter on February 7.
• What happened to women's horizontal reservation?
  • On July 18, 2001, the Interim Government issued a government order of 20 percent reservation.
  • On July 24, 2006, the then Tiwari government increased the reservation from 20 percent to 30 per cent.
  • On August 26, 2022, the Uttarakhand High Court stayed the government order of reservation during the hearing of a petition.
  • On November 04, 2022, in the hearing on the government's SLP, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court order.
  • On November 29, 2022, the government introduced the bill in the House of the Assembly.
  • On November 30, 2022, the government unanimously passed the bill and sent it to The Raj Bhavan.
  • On January 10, 2022, the Governor gave assent to the Bill.