Industry body CII urges Haryana govt to re-look at legislation on reservation in private jobs

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Wednesday urged the Haryana government to "re-look" at the legislation that provides for reservation in private jobs for local candidates, saying reservation impacts productivity and competitiveness. The industry body said it hopes the state government re-looks at the legislation.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said, "At a time when it is important to attract investments at the state level, the Haryana government could have avoided imposing restrictions on industry."

Asserting that reservation affects productivity and Industry competitiveness, Banerjee said, "We hope the state government of Haryana re-looks at the legislation. With Prime Minister (Narendra Modi)'s vision of 'Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat', we look forward to an integrated and mobile labour market within the country."

Haryana Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya has given assent to the Bill providing 75 per cent reservation in the private sector to job seekers from the state, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Tuesday.

The quota will initially apply for 10 years, according to the Bill.

Apart from tackling unemployment among local people, the state government said the law will discourage the influx of migrants seeking low-paid jobs, which has a significant impact on local infrastructure and leads to the proliferation of slums.

The Bill covers private companies, societies, trusts and partnership firms in the state. It provides for training to eligible local candidates when qualified people are not available.

It defines local candidates as those domiciled in the state. For the domicile status, a person should be born in Haryana or have lived there for at least 15 years.

The Haryana Assembly had late last year passed the Bill, a key poll promise made by the ruling alliance partner Jannayak Janta Party.