Rajasthan: No Government Jobs For People With More Than Two Children
The Supreme Court has upheld a Rajasthan rule which mandated that candidates with more than two children will be ineligible to apply for government jobs in the state.
The SC last week dismissed a plea challenging the Rajasthan government¡¯s 2001 regulations, which prevent a candidate from applying for a public position if he or she has more than two children.
Rajasthan's two child policy
The plea was filed by Ram Lal Jat, an ex-serviceman who had retired in 2017 and had applied for a constable's post in Rajasthan Police in 2018.
However, he was disqualified under Rule 24(4) of Rajasthan Police Subordinate Service Rules, 1989 which followed the norm set under the Rajasthan Various Service (Amendment) Rules, 2001, which states that "no candidate shall be eligible for appointment to the job who has more than two children on or after June 1, 2002."
What SC said
The complainant had unsuccessfully challenged his disqualification in the Rajasthan High Court in 2022, after which he approached the Apex Court.
On February 20, the SC bench of justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta, and KV Viswanathan upheld the Rajasthan HC order.
SC's 2003 order on two child policy
The SC also referred to its own 2003 order which held that the classification, which disqualified candidates for having more than two living children, was non-discriminatory and intra-vires the Constitution, since the objective behind the provision was to promote family planning.?
Two child policy in other states
It should be noted that Rajasthan is not the only state that has a two-child policy for contesting local body elections and for government jobs.
Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka also have similar rules.
In 2021 the Uttar Pradesh government also proposed a population control bill which among other provisions had recommended to bar the violators of the two-child policy from contesting local body elections or applying for government jobs.
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