JOIN USSC to hear on July 22 Centre's plea on allowing promotion of SC/ST employees
The Supreme Court is set to take up on Wednesday a plea by the Union government for clarification on an order to maintain the status quo on the reservation in promotion to the SC/ST employees.
The Centre was concerned with the fact that 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.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao would consider the application by the Centre wherein it sought permission to make "ad-hoc promotions to the large number of vacant posts" subject to the outcome of the cases.
It had said, "the status quo ordered on April 15, 2019, has resulted in a complete stoppage of all promotions" in the reserved and general categories.
It said a significant number 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 the exercise of the power conferred by Article 16 (4A) of the Constitution, without, acquiring quantifiable data indicating the 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 the 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 the public interest, it said.