Terming the Congress party and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as “anti-Dalits”, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Punjab government had for the first time brought in reservation for Scheduled Castes in the appointment of law officers.
Mr. Cheema, responding to a call attention notice during the second day of the Winter Session of the Punjab Assembly, said the government had reserved 58 posts for Scheduled Castes in the appointment of law officers, and 178 posts for the General Category.
“The Congress and SAD-BJP alliance ruled the State several times but despite the fact that the State has more than 34% population belonging to the Schedule Caste categories, no government made reservations for lawyers belonging to the Scheduled Caste category while appointing law officers,” Mr. Cheema said.
“When I was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the first time, the Congress government of that time brought the first Bill regarding the appointment of Advocate General, and I raised the first question in this House about the reservation in these posts. But at that time, there was a government of the Congress party, which I think has been cheating by taking votes in the name of Dalits for centuries,” he alleged.
Mr. Cheema said the AAP-led government was the first to bring about reservation for children of Punjab’s poor people, who face many hardships in providing higher education to their children to become lawyers. He added that these posts would be filled within a few days, and the advocates would perform their duties in the High Court.
