Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said he supports uniform civil code (UCC).

Speaking to reporters after presiding over a meeting of the state Cabinet on Tuesday, the chief minister said the UCC is necessary to bring uniformity and harmony in the country.

“Our society is one. We are one nation. So, a common civil code is required for uniformity and harmony. We will study the provisions of the UCC… but broadly speaking we are in agreement for the UCC,” Khattar contended.

In reply to another question, Khattar said Common Eligibility Test (CET) is conducted by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) for recruitment to various Group C and D government jobs. A candidate is given the opportunity to opt for the posts according to his or her educational qualification.

The CM said the state government, in the last eight-and-a-half-year tenure, has given more jobs as compared to ten years tenure of previous Congress government.

Quoting figures to support his claims, Khattar said only 88,000 government jobs were given during ten years tenure of Congress government from the year 2005 to 2014 in the state whereas, in the last eight-and-a-half-years tenure of the present state government, recruitment on about 1.10 lakh posts had been made and process is on for recruitment on additional 60,000 posts.

He said these included 32,000 posts of Group C and 15,000 posts of Group D. Apart from this, separate recruitment is to be made for the police and education departments. “Thus, the present state government would give a total of 1.70 lakh government jobs which is double than the number of government jobs given during the Congress regime. He said that Congress leaders are not united and they are fighting with each other,” Khattar added.

In response to a question regarding providing benefits of reservation in promotion to employees belonging to Scheduled Castes, the chief minister said the Committee constituted under the chairmanship of P Raghavendra Rao in this regard has submitted its report which is being studied thoroughly by the state government.