Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Feb 11: The Supreme Court (SC) has given a ruling having far reaching consequences in Karnataka, in which it has said that state governments do not have the right to provide reservation in promotions for employees belonging scheduled castes and tribes. As a result, the SC has nullified the 39-year-old reservation law passed by the state government providing for reservation even in promotion for government employees.

The judgement was passed by a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Adarsh Goel and Justice U U Lalit, which heard a petition filed in 2011 by Pavitra, who was working as officer in BDA engineering department then. It said that the act that provided for overlooking seniority and provide for promotions based on categories to which the employees concerned belong, is invalid as the rules were framed without following proper procedures. It based the judgement on the verdict delivered by the constitutional bench of the SC in 2006 in M Nagaraj case. It said that insufficient representation cannot be the sole criterion for overlooking seniority and give promotions to people from scheduled castes and tribes. It said that backwardness, insufficient representation and efficient functioning also need to be proved before such a law can be brought into force.

It is being estimated that about 3,000 employees who were promoted on the basis of reservation will be affected by this verdict. The state may be compelled to revert them back to their previous posts. The said law was passed in 1978 and the Supreme Court has stuck down promotions given on the basis of caste/tribe considerations. The court has given the government three months time to demote the employees who were promoted on the basis of reservation criteria. Employees spread over 63 government departments will be affected adversely due to this judgement.

At the same time, employees belonging to general category, who had been awaiting their turn for promotions since several years in spite of meeting eligibility criteria can hope to get promoted. The judgement does not affect those who have got promotion and retired, and also where the financial benefits have already been disbursed.

The judgement provides for fixing promotion process based on reservation affective from June 19, 1995. The government has been asked to publish new seniority list in this connection within three months. Currently, reservation for scheduled castes and tribes has been fixed at 18 percent, but in some departments, this ratio has crossed this ratio by a wide margin, it is said.

President of SC ST Engineers Association, D Uday Shankar, said that a detailed study over the judgement is yet to be taken up, and it is to be examined whether the government has a provision to appeal against it. Secretary in the department of personnel and administrative reforms, T K Anil Kumar, said that discussions have been held on this issue with the advocate general, and the opinion from legal department will be sought, and further action will be taken after holding meetings at government level.