The legislation of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Haryana government to reserve 75% of new jobs with monthly salaries of below `50,000 for local candidates, in all private establishments employing 10 or more persons, once again brings to the fore issues regarding the constitutional validity of such reservations and also their implications for the economy and polity. Though, since the early 1960s reservation for local candidates in employment has been a recurring demand in some of the more developed states; the issue once again is slowly gaining momentum with more states, including less developed ones, resorting to such moves.
Various provisions of the Constitution not only guarantee free movement and settlement of citizens in all regions of the country but also prohibit any discrimination on the basis of place of birth, or any other grounds. In fact, the Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) Act, 1957 even repeals all legal provisions that prescribed residence requir