July 19, 2019
State Govt issues notification for 10% reservation for EWS
The Bangla Government on Monday, July 15 came out with a notification that provides 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS) under the general category in government jobs and educational institutions. The State Cabinet had approved the decision on July 2, an affirmative action which had been widely hailed.
The Backward Classes Welfare Department has been entrusted with the responsibility of maintenance of post-based reservation roster for other categories of reservation. Every department would now recast group-wise post-based reservation roster for direct recruitment.
Notification
The notification, issued by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department, enables people belonging to the EWS category to receive benefits of reservation on a preferential basis in civil posts and services in the State Government.
Qualification
The memorandum states that a person wanting to avail the EWS quota would have to obtain an ‘income and asset certificate’ from the district magistrate or sub-divisional officer under whose jurisdiction they fall, or from Kolkata Municipal Corporation in case of residents of Kolkata.
The gross annual income of the applicant’s family from all sources together (namely, salary, agriculture, business, profession and others) should be below Rs 8 lakh.
Family assets should not exceed five acres of agricultural land or a 1,000 square feet flat in Kolkata. Property held by a family at different locations would be clubbed together for determining EWS status.
Exceptions
The reservation for admission will not apply to the minority educational institutions (MEI) referred to in clause (1) of Article 30 of the Constitution.
The EWS reservation will also won’t apply to scientific, technical and certain other posts. Candidates will not get the EWS reservation benefit during promotion either.
Unlike the other reserved categories – SC, ST and OBC – vacancies earmarked under EWS for a particular recruitment year cannot be carried forward if the authorities fail to find a suitable EWS candidate.
Merit-based reservation
The notification further says that a person belonging to the EWS category cannot be denied the right to compete for the appointment against an unreserved vacancy. The reason for this is that people belonging to the EWS category are selected on the basis of merit and not on account of reservation, and so are not counted towards the quota meant for reservation.
