Sharma Panel gets 7 months extension

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 17: The Government today granted another six months extension to Justice (Retd.) GD Sharma-led committee for submitting its final recommendations.
The Panel headed by former High Court judge Justice (Retd.) GD Sharma comprising Munir Ahmad Khan (Retd. DGP) and Rup Lal Bharati (former Indian Forest Service officer).
“ … Sanction is hereby accorded to the extension of the term of the Jammu & Kashmir Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission for a period of six months from the date of expiry of its extended term i.e. 19-03-2023 or till further orders, whichever is earlier, for making its final recommendations,” read an order issued by the Department of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs,
The panel has been granted another extension at a time when it is examining the issue of Reserved Backward Area (RBA) reservation after submitting its recommendations on the inclusion of new tribes/ classes in Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Social Castes(Weak and Unprivileged Classes) lists.
Under the J&K’s reservation rules, the RBA category has 10 percent reservation in jobs and admissions in professional courses. Till 2020, the RBA category had 20 percent reservation but it was halved by GC Murmu-led administration. Almost 1200-1300 villages each from Kashmir and Jammu have been notified as RBA till date on recommendations of a statutory panel by J&K’s successive elected regimes.
This is the third extension to the Commission after its constitution on March 19, 2020 by the Union Territory administration.