Bill tabled to give quota for SCs, STs in promotions
To
ensure reservation in promotions for employees belonging to the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the State government on Tuesday tabled the
contentious Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government
Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (To the Posts in the Civil
Services of the State) Bill, 2017. There have been serious debates for and
against the Bill in the run-up to the session in Belagavi. Law and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra tabled the Bill in the Legislative
Assembly which aims at determination of seniority of the government servants
promoted on the basis of reservation in the civil services posts of the State.
The State has been providing reservation in promotions for SC and ST employees
since 1978 — 15% for SCs and 3% for STs. However, the Supreme Court in the B.K.
Pavithra and others vs the Union of India and others civil appeal filed in
2011, struck down reservation in promotions for SC and ST employees. In
compliance with the Supreme Court’s order, the State government conducted a
study on the backwardness of SCs and STs, inadequacy of their representation in
the State civil services and the effect of reservation in promotion on the
State administration.
Additional
Chief Secretary K. Ratna Prabha, with the assistance of other officers,
collated the data and made a detailed report which was submitted to the
government. The report said overall efficiency of administration has not been
affected by extending reservation in promotions to SCs and STs. It recommended
continuation of reservation in promotion within the limits that will not hamper
the overall efficiency of administration. The State government accepted the
report and decided to provide consequential seniority to persons promoted on
the basis of policy of reservation in the State since 1978 to ensure adequate
representation of SCs and STs across all departments.
Creamy
layer case referred to Statute Bench
Reopening
the debate on the application of “creamy layer” for reservations for the Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in government jobs, the Supreme Court on
Tuesday referred the question to a Constitution Bench.
A Bench of Justices
Kurian Joseph and R. Banumathi said clarity is required on the “application of
creamy layer in situations of completing claims within the same races,
communities, groups or parts thereof of SC/ST communities notified by the
President under Articles 341 and 342”. This question on the application of
creamy layer principle in SC/ST quotas comes 11 years after a five-judge
Constitution Bench in the M. Nagaraj judgment of 2006 had decided that creamy
layer should be excluded from the reservations for the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.
Legal experts note that the Mandal
Commission and E.V. Chinnaiah cases had confined the creamy layer concept to
the Other Backward Classes section. The two-judge Bench’s order is based on a
batch of petitions for clarity on Article 16 (4), which deals with the State’s
powers for providing for appointments or posts for “any backward class of
citizens”; on Article 16 (4A), which arms the State with power to make
provisions for quota in promotion with consequential seniority to SC/ST
communities; and finally Article 16 (4B) on unfilled reservation vacancies.
From Sources:-
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