Centre moves Supreme Court for clarification on promotion to SC/ST employees

More than 1.3 lakh promotions held up due to status quo order

The Union government has approached the Supreme Court for seeking clarification on an order to maintain status quo on reservation in promotion to the SC/ST employees. It said as on January 31, 2020, more than 1.3 lakh promotions were held up in 23 out of a total of 78 departments, causing resentment and financial loss to them.

In an application, the Centre sought permission to make "ad-hoc promotions to the large number of vacant posts" subject to outcome of the cases, as it said, "the status quo ordered on April 15, 2019 has resulted in a complete stoppage of all promotions" in reserved and general category.

It said a significant numbers of government servants were retiring every month without getting the promotions due to them. "This is causing resentment, demoralisation and confusion amongst a large section of the government servants, besides financial losses," it said.

In the current pandemic of COVID-19, government employees are at the forefront of providing various relief measures to the public and it is important to keep up their morale, the government further said.

It submitted that the application was necessitated as previously the court by its order on May 17, 2018 and June 5, 2018 permitted for going ahead with the promotion.

The Delhi High Court has on August 23, 2017 quashed the office memorandum of August 13, 1997, providing for reservation in promotions to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The HC had also restrained the government from granting any reservation, in promotion, to SC/STs, in exercise of the power conferred by Article 16 (4A) of the Constitution, without, acquiring quantifiable data indicating inadequacy of representation, and evaluating the situation by taking into consideration the said data, along with the competing considerations of backwardness and overall efficiency in administration, and arriving at an empirical decision.

The special leave petition by the Union government was still pending before the top court. "This HC judgment has affected morale of employees due to uncertainty about their future prospects, fear of reversions, etc," it said.

Further, keeping the various promotional posts vacant in various cadres for a long time was bound to hamper the smooth functioning of the public work in all government establishments, which was not in public interest, it said.

In the Central Secretariat Services (CSS), the status of vacancies as on May 14, 2020 is as follows:

Grade Total Vacancies

Director (Group A): 130

Deputy Secretary (Group A): 116

Under Secretary (Group A): 260*

Section Officer (Group B): 1355**

* This includes 116 vacancies that will percolate down after promotion of 116 Deputy Secretaries to the grade of Director.

** This includes 260 vacancies that will percolate down after promotion of Under Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries to the higher grade.