In Srinagar on December 4, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told reporters that the council’s proposal to streamline the reservation system has been forwarded to Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha for final approval. Speaking at the venue, Omar said, “We hope he will approve it and the order will be issued thereafter.” The cabinet had given its nod to the revised reservation framework on Wednesday, basing its decision on inputs from the Cabinet Sub‑Committee (CSC) and sending the draft to the Lt. Governor.
The updated plan is set to trim the EWS quota by seven percentage points and the RBA (Residents of Backward Areas) quota by three, bringing them down to three and seven percent respectively. As the cabinet cleared the cuts in RBA and EWS, the share of open‑merit positions is expected to rise to at least forty percent in the direct quota and fifty percent in the vertical reservation quota, up from the current thirty percent. One factor cited for the RBA reduction is the removal of Ladakh from the state’s boundaries.
Earlier, J&K had seen a total reservation share of seventy percent, leaving only thirty percent for open‑merit candidates and sparking considerable protest. The RBA share had fluctuated, once at twenty percent before being lowered to ten percent. There have been accusations that politicians and local officials had villages declared as RBA to grant their relatives reservation benefits.
Under the new scheme, the ST‑I, ST‑II, RBA, and EWS categories each receive ten percent, while Scheduled Castes and OBCs get eight percent each, and the ALC/IB category is allocated four percent. Additionally, a horizontal reservation of ten percent is maintained—six percent reserved for ex‑servicemen and four percent for Persons with Disabilities.
The Cabinet established the sub‑committee on December 10, 2024. It delivered its report on June 10, 2025, after which the cabinet consulted the Law Department before finalising the recommendations.
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