29 Aug, 2012 01:24 PM

Government Postpones Reservation in Promotion bill

The government is understood to have postponed the bill seeking to bring reservation in promotions for the SC/ST employees. The government was supposed to table the bill on 22 August.

The Attorney General of India, GE Vahanavati had cautioned the government on this proposal saying it could be easily challenged and may not stand in a court of law. He, in his opinion to the law ministry referred to the SC's 2006 judgment in M Nagaraj case and said the apex court had couched its reasoning for quashing quota in promotion in the basic structure doctrine as well as on fundamentals of equality — both difficult aspects to overcome through legislation. He also opined that it would require a series of amendments in the Constitution to implement it given the Supreme Court's detailed judgment quashing it. So, he suggested a comprehensive constitutional amendment of Articles 16(4), 16(4A) both relating to special provisions for backward classes, Article 335 (administrative efficiency to be maintained while taking into account the claims of SC and ST employees), Article 341 and 342 dealing with preparation of list of SCs and STs to overcome the hurdles in the shape of SC judgment in the way of quota in promotion.

The government is planning to bring in in amendments to the constitution to overcome this. An All party meeting was conducted by Prime Minister Shri. Manmohan Singh in this connection. Prime Minister said in the meeting that the Government is in favour of allowing reservation for Promotion and that Government would review the bill again for examining the legal aspects before bringing the amendment bill again. Even if Samajwadi Party (SP) might have expressed its opposition to reservation in promotion for the scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) but there is discontent among the rank of the party on the stand. The split became conspicuous last week when the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Shailendra Kumar, proposed a discussion in favour of SC, ST reservations. A similar discussion had been initiated by Congress MP and chairperson of the National Commission for SCs and STs, P L Punia.