The Jammu & Kashmir administration has notified to include 43 villages of the Union Territory (UT) for making available the reservation benefits to the people residing in the areas near the International Border (IB) in direct recruitment, professional institutions and postgraduate courses. Of the aforementioned villages, 21 are in Jammu, 17 in Kathua and five in Samba.

“Jammu villages will cover three tehsils, those in Kathua and Samba will cover two tehsils each,” a senior official of the UT said.

Officials said the notification had been issued on the directions of L-G Manoj Sinha during the public grievance session — Mulaqaat — held in December.

“In exercise of the powers conferred under Clause (3A) of Rule 2 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules-2005 and in amplification to notification SO-226 dated July 17, 2020, the government, on the recommendations of Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, hereby declare that the villages to this notification shall also be the ‘Area adjoining to the International Border’,” reads the order.

Now, the number of villages notified under “Areas adjoining the International Border”, which are eligible for the reservation benefits reached 551. These include 314 villages of Jammu, 159 of Samba and 78 of Kathua district, comprising a population of lakhs of people, who shall get the benefit of the reservation.

The Union Government had accorded benefits of reservation to the people living along the IB on the analogy of those living along Line of Control, making amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004.

The amendment came into force from March 1, 2019 and the Union Ministry for Law and Justice had notified the same in the Gazette of India on July 9, 2019 as “Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment Act) Act 2019”.

Courtesy: Daily Tribune : 23rd February 2021