Chandigarh: Jats and five other castes, granted reservation under the Special Backward Category during the Congress rule in the state, will now be able to avail of the benefits of reservation in admissions and jobs under the 10 per cent quota for the Economically Backward Persons (EBP) category.

Chandigarh: Jats and five other castes, granted reservation under the Special Backward Category during the Congress rule in the state, will now be able to avail of the benefits of reservation in admissions and jobs under the 10 per cent quota for the Economically Backward Persons (EBP) category.

This was decided in a meeting of the committee constituted under Minister of State Krishan Kumar Bedi for the implementation of various commitments made to the Jats after the 2016 agitation.

“Though this was decided over a month ago, there were some issues which were acting as a bottleneck in the implementation of the decision. We have sorted these out after complaints were received from various quarters that certificates for claiming benefit were not being issued to these castes,” Bedi said, adding that the Chief Secretary office would issue a fresh order in this regard to all the tehsil offices in the state.

In its June 7 order, the Haryana Government had clarified that Jats, Bishnois, Jat Sikh, Ror Tyagis and Mulla/Muslim Jats would be eligible to get reservation under the EWP category which has 10 per cent quota.

However, despite the order, the tehsil offices were turning away “eligible” applicants of these castes. “These six castes were not being given the benefit of reservation after the SBC quota was challenged in court. They were also being denied the benefit of reservation under the EWP. This matter was taken up with the Chief Minister, who has given his nod to this arrangement,” said Bedi.

A few cases of compensation to the injured of 2016 agitation which were pending were also cleared in today’s meeting.