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SC: Reservation on Jobs, Promotion is not a fundamental right
The Hon’ble Supreme Court held that quotas and reservations for promotions for government jobs is not a fundamental right. The Supreme Court held that the reservation on jobs and promotions is a argumentative one as halting of benefits of the well-off members from the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes committee is still pending in the apex court. This matter when it was taken before the Supreme Court on 2018 it was held that the people from the general quotas are not able to enjoy the benefits of reservation in the government jobs. The Hon’ble SC clearly expressed it on its verdict stating that the court could not issue mandamus against the states to provide quotas and states could not be forced to make such provisions without the necessary data showing imbalance in representation of certain communities in public service.
“No mandamus can be issued by the court directing state governments to provide reservations” a bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta said.. The apex court’s judgment overturned a 2012 ruling by the Uttarakhand HC that had directed the state to provide quotas to specified communities. If the decision of the State government to provide Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes reservation in promotion to a particular public post is challenged, it would have to place the appropriate data and prove before the court that reservation was an essential and does not affect the efficiency of administration.
The initial cause of action of this matter is based in a batch of appeals pertaining to the reservations to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in promotions in the posts of Assistant Engineer (Civil Dept) in Uttarakhand. After the SC verdict, political parties such as Congress, CPM and LJP disagreed with the verdict given by the Hon’ble SC. Congress Leader said that a constitutional matter must be heard by a full constitutional bench rather than a two-judge bench.
Dealing with the appeals against the HC order, the top court noted,
“It is settled law that the state government cannot be directed to provide reservations for appointment in public posts. Similarly, the state government is not bound to make reservations for the SC/ST committee in matters of jobs and promotions.”
While keeping the Uttarakhand government's notification on September 2012 , the apex court said that as the government is not bound to provide reservation in promotions, the high court should not have declared the state's decision as illegal. Referring to the provisions of the Indian Constitution on reservation, the bench said, "It is for the state government to decide whether reservations are required in the matter of appointment and promotions to public posts." It is noted that Article 16 (4) and 16 (4-A) of the Constitution empowers the state to make reservation in matters of promotion and appointment in favor of the SC/ST committee "if in the opinion of state they are not adequately represented in the services of the state". The Hon’ble SC mentioned clearly that the state has the discretion to decide whether the reservations are required in any particular matter and the decision of the HC is incorrect in this matter. The SC also mentions that the HC had missed to keep the constitutional provisions in mind while delivering the final verdict. Conclusively, the apex court had given a verdict that for jobs and promotions, reservation is not a fundamental right under Part-III of the Indian Constitution.
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