Gurgaon: Industry owners in the city backed the Punjab and Haryana high courts decision to scrap a government law to reserve 75% of private sector jobs with salaries under Rs 30,000 for domicile candidates. The court, on Friday, declared the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020, unconstitutional and violative of Part III of Constitution (fundamental rights).The Haryana government has, however, decided to move the Supreme Court against the high court ruling.Members of the Gurgaon and Faridabad industries associations — two of the major petitioners in the case — said the law would force them into settling for an unskilled workforce and promote inspector Raj. They said they were not opposed to employing youths from the state, but hirings should be done on the basis of merit and not reservation. The factory owners said they would be forced to wind up from Haryana if the job quota is enforced in the future.We dont have the required number of labourers in Haryana. We are not against employing locals, but we want to hire people on merit and not because of reservation. For instance, labourers required in industries like those dealing in garments are mostly from places in Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal. They know the kind of work that is done there. Had this reservation had been imposed, we would have been forced to move out of Haryana, said JN Mangla, a former president of the Gurgaon industries association.If there is such a law, government officials would keep coming to our offices and monitor our workforce. So, we will have to maintain separate data for employees — for those from Haryana and those from other states. We cant lose our prerogative, he added. Industry owners, Mangla said, would stick to their stand if the case came up in the Supreme Court.The high court looked into all the aspects and decided that this quota is unconstitutional. We only hope the Haryana government will take this in the right spirit. We want to work with the government and decrease the employment rate in the state. But we cant be forced into hiring people on the basis of quota, said Rajiv Chawla, chairperson of the Integrated Association of MSMEs in India and an industrialist from Faridabad. The 75% job quota for local youths was JJPs election manifesto in 2019. After it became a part of the BJP-led state government, the party was under pressure to fulfil the promise.The legislation, passed in March 2021, was notified by the labour department on November 6 that year. The law aimed at addressing unemployment among local youths and other challenges posed by a large number of migrants competing for low-wage jobs. The Act was applicable to private companies, societies, trusts, limited liability partnership firms and any person who employed 10 or more persons on salary, wages or other remuneration.Asked about the verdict, deputy chief minister and JJP president Dushyant Chautala said, We are examining the high court verdict and will soon move the Supreme Court against it.

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