Overview

• The J&K cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, forwarded its six-month-old Cabinet sub-committee’s reservation report to the law department on June 18 for legal review.
• Peoples Democratic Party leader Waheed Para and People’s Conference chief Sajjad Lone called the referral a deliberate delay aimed at undermining merit; student protesters have renewed demands for an immediate quota reassessment.
• The dispute traces back to a lieutenant governor-imposed policy introduced before the last Assembly elections that significantly raised reserved quotas at the expense of the general category.
• Omar Abdullah accused opposition figures Mehbooba Mufti and Sajjad Lone of hypocrisy for not addressing reservation issues during their own tenures.
• The law department’s review will dictate whether the government can move to implement, amend, or overturn the LG-imposed policy without further postponement.