CHANDIGARH: General category employees will play a decisive role in the coming 2022 Punjab elections said Shyam Lal Sharma chief organiser of the General Category
Welfare Federation.
He said that during the last 70 years all the governments have ignored the general category of employees at the cost of SC/ST employees. All the financial and other benefits are granted to SC/ST employees and general category employees have been completely sidelined.
Five years back during the runup to the last assembly elections, the Congress party has promised to constitute the commission for general categories, but no action has been taken so far. Resentment is brewing amongst the general and other backward class employees against the state government's move to implement 85th. amendment and not constituting the
commission for general categories as committed at the time of the last elections
said V K Gupta a spokesperson of the General Category Welfare Federation.
In Punjab SC/ST employees are already in excess of the percentage fixed by the government then where is the need for continuation of reservation. As per data collected by the state government in 2018, the percentage of SCs in the against total filled up posts in group A is 22.34% against the prescribed quota of 14%. Similarly in group B, it is 19.99% against 14% and in group c it is 24.34% against the share of 20 %, said Gupta
Shyam Lal Sharma said that the Federation has urged the chief minister that the 85th. the amendment should not be implemented in the state without complying with the certain conditions laid down by the supreme court in M Nagraj case such as to exclude the creamy layer of scheduled caste employees from the benefit of the promotion and no reservation in promotion as well as consequential seniority upon promotion can be allowed where there is no inadequacy of representation in of SCs in services.