Along with the campaign by several dalit organizations to mount pressure on all the political parties for the restoration of the facility of reservation in promotion for the scheduler caste state employees , a petition has been sent to the prime minister seeking his intervention for the passage of the Constitution (117th amendment) bill from the lok Sabha.
leading the campaign the All India people’s front leader SR Darapuri, a retired IPS officer has said “The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes have been provided with Reservation in Promotions since 1955. This was admissible to SC/STs in the Central/State Government Services, in proportion to their population till November 1992. This was discontinued following the judgment in the case of Indra Sawhney Vs. Union of India, popularly known as Mandal Judgment, wherein a 9 Judges Bench of the Supreme Court decided that Art. 16 (4) of the Constitution did not provide for reservation in promotion to SC/STs.
Subsequently, the Parliament, through 77th Amendment of the Constitution, inserted a new clause 4A in Article 16, from June 1995 enabling the Government to provide reservation in promotions for SCs/STs. Subsequently, clause (4A) of Article 16 was modified by the Constitution (85th Amendment) Act, 2001) to provide consequential seniority to the SC and ST candidates, in matters of reservation in promotion”.
The validity of these Constitutional Amendments was challenged before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in the case of M. Nagraj, upheld the validity of Constitutional Amendments but observed that the concerned State will have to show in each case, the existence of the compelling reasons i.e. backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall efficiency before making provisions for reservation in promotion.
In the light of Judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of M. Nagraj Case, the State of Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana put forth the data but the same has been rejected by the concerned High Courts. The result is that promotions of SC/ST employees in these states are held up since long. In UP the State government did not put up any data before the High Court. But on the contrary it gave promotions in violation of the ruling of the Supreme Court in M. Nagraj case.
The decision of the UP government to promote SC. ST Officer through reservation in promotion challenged in the Allahabad High Court and it was quashed. The Supreme Court not only upheld the verdict of Allahabad High Court but also ordered the reversion of all those promoted in violation of Supreme Court’s order. The result is that more than 15,000 employees have been reverted and more are likely to be reverted soon.
He said the Constitution (117th) amendment bill 2012 was passed by the Rajya Sabha in September, 2012 but unfortunately the same could not be introduced and passed in the lok Sabha. The dalit leader urged the prime minister to introduce the bill in the lok Sabha to restore Reservation in Promotion and consequential Seniority for SC/ST employees to ensure their presence at all the levels of administration.