VIJAYAWADA: The recent order of the Supreme Court, setting aside Haryana high court’s stay on domicile reservation, is likely to have an impact in Andhra Pradesh.
While setting aside the stay on Haryana legislation, the apex court also directed the high court to decide whether the legislation is constitutionally valid or not within four weeks.
AP is also one of the states which passed a legislation to give reservation to local candidates in private companies. Any outcome in the Haryana case is likely to set a judicial precedent on the issue. The legislation in AP has also been challenged and the matter is pending before the high court since May 2020.
One Ch Varalakshmi had moved the high court challenging certain sections of Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries and Factories Act 2019 (APELCIFA), arguing that APELCIFA is in violation of Article 16(2)(3) of the Constitution. The petitioner also relied upon a 1970 Supreme Court judgement in the case of Mulki rules.
The apex court had struck down the legislation brought by the then united AP government to give jobs by giving domicile status to those having 12 years of residence in the state.
In the present case, the state government argued that the petition is not maintainable as the petitioner is not an aggrieved party.
The high court, however, observed that prima facie the legislation appears to be in violation of the Constitution and directed the state government to explain the constitutional validity of the legislation in its affidavit.
Though the case was scheduled to be posted after four weeks, it has not been listed since. As similar questions were raised in the case of Haryana legislation against which local industry associations vehemently argued before the Supreme Court and the apex court also suggested Haryana high court to look into the constitutionality of the legislations, any decision by the Haryana high court is likely to become a judicial precedent on the issue.
The counsel for the petitioner, Mannam Venkata Krishna Rao, said though the state government made the legislation, it is not being implemented.
The state government gave three years to industries to comply with the legislation in case they could not find eligible persons for the required posts. Krishna Rao said that legislation is in clear violation of law and Supreme Court judgements. “We are confident that our petition will pass the test of law in courts and the legislation will be set aside,” he said.
