RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Jan.28: Mandar MLA and Jharkhand state Congress party executive president Bandhu Tirkey welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court on reservation in promotion saying with this development path has been paved for the promotion of ST/SC employees in accordance with reservation policy which was held up for a long time due to ambiguity over the criteria of selection for promotion on the basis of reservation policy.
Tirkey said that it is good that the apex court has given free hand to the state to set criteria for establishing adequacy of representation of ST and SC communities in services for which reservation in promotion is being provided. He said it is also good that the court asked the state to collect quantifiable data before granting reservation.
Tirkey said the apex court has rightly fixed the reservation criteria saying ‘cadre’ should be considered as a unit for collecting quantifiable data on adequacy of reservation instead of service and gave no scope of ambiguity taking this.
Legal expert Subhasish Soren supported Tirkey but added that a lot of things are yet to be decided by the apex court in the matter and it is expected to be done in the next hearing on February 24.
The apex court is yet to decide what to do in case a ST/SC enters in service occupying general seats and also to clarify on the issue of overall effect on the efficiency of administration. He said that with the decision it has become a challenge for the state government to get a quantifiable data showing backwardness of STs and SCs to give them reservation in promotion.
In 2006, in M. Nagraj Vs Union of India, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutional validity of the 85th Constitutional Amendment Act providing for reservation in promotion. The Apex Court in Nagaraj had laid down conditionalities such as collection of data on the inadequacy of representation, the overall effect on the efficiency of administration and removing creamy layers while considering reservations in promotions.
In 2018, a 5-judge Bench in Jarnail Singh answered the reference holding the 2006 judgment in M.Nagraj Vs Union of India case to be wrong to the extent it had stated that quantifiable data showing backwardness of SC/STs was necessary for giving them reservation in promotions. With this clarification, the 5-judge bench turned down the plea to refer Nagaraj decision to a 7-judge bench.
