SC allows reservation in promotions for SC/ST employees (for now) [Read Order]

The Supreme Court today temporarily allowed the Centre to allow reservation in promotions for its employees belonging to the SC/ST community..The vacation bench of Justices AK Goel and Ashok Bhushan allowed the same “in accordance with law” in two petitions, one an appeal from Bombay High Court and the other an appeal by the Centre challenging a decision of the Delhi High Court..The order passed today states,.“It is made clear that the Union of India is not debarred from making promotions in accordance with law, subject to further orders, pending further consideration of the matter.”.The High Court Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar had, in August last year, held that the government could not blindly provide reservation in promotions for its employees, without taking into account the safeguards laid down by the Supreme Court..The judgment passed by the High Court heavily relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in M Nagaraj v. Union of India, wherein it was held that the state is not bound to make reservations for SC/ST employees in matter of promotions. However, it also laid down three factors which ought to determine the state’s policy in this regard. They are:.(i) backwardness of the class;.(ii) inadequacy of representation in service; and.(iii) overall administrative efficiency.Further, the 5-judge Constitution Bench in M Nagaraj also held that the state has to gather quantifiable data to determine adequacy of representation and extent of backwardness of a certain class..Today’s order was passed despite the fact that a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will consider the correctness of M Nagaraj and subsequent decisions. This after a Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R Banumathi, in November last year, heard a plea filed by the state of Tripura..In that order, the Bench noted that the issue of interpretation of Article 16 – especially in the context of three apex court cases on reservations, namely, Indra Sawhney and others v. Union of India, EV Chinnaiah v. State of AP and M Nagaraj and others v. Union of India and others – was under debate..It was further noted that there were calls to revisit M Nagaraj, given the fact that it failed to refer to Chinnaiah, which preceded it. Moreover, it was argued that the test of backwardness for the SC/ST community, as mandated by M Nagaraj, requires a relook. This, the Bench determined, could only be looked into by a Constitution Bench..ASG Maninder Singh appeared for the Centre in the matter heard today..Read the order below.