Quashing SC/ST Reservation Will Lead to 'Employee Unrest': Centre Tells SC

The central government informed the apex court that the reservation policy was in consonance with the Constitution.

Representational image.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that if the reservation in promotion to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) employees in government jobs is quashed, it may lead to "employee unrest" and "multiple litigations."

In an affidavit filed before a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai, the central government informed the top court that the policy for the reservation was in consonance with the Constitution and the law laid down by the Supreme Court, news agency PTI reported

The Centre said in its affidavit, "If the case is not allowed, it would necessitate withdrawal of the benefits of reservation in promotion granted to SC/ST employees. This may lead to reversions of SC and ST employees, re-fixation of their salaries including re-fixation of pension of many employees who may have retired in the meantime, recovery of excess salaries/pension so paid to them. This would lead to multiple litigations and employee unrest.”

'Representation Anyway Inadequate': Centre

Further defending its policy, the Centre added that the representation of SCs/STs in government jobs was anyway inadequate and argued that the administration was not hampered in any manner by the grant of reservation.

Moreover, the affidavit stated that administrative efficiency was ensured through the system of Annual Performance Assessment Report, which provides an assessment of work output, personal attributes and functional competency of each officer, PTI reported.

Submitting data of 75 ministries and departments under its jurisdiction, the Centre said that out of 27,55,430 total employees, 4,79,301 were SCs, 2,14,738 were STs, and the number of OBC employees was 4,57,148.

Background

The Supreme Court, on 28 January, had ruled that it could not lay down a yardstick to determine the adequacy of SC/ST representation in government job promotions, directing the states to collect quantifiable data on the matter.

The SC bench of Justices Nageswara Rao, Sanjiv Khanna, and BR Gavai had stated, "We have held we cannot lay down any yardstick to determine inadequacy of representation. State is obligated to collect quantifiable data regarding SC/ST representation. We have left it to state to assess yardstick to determine inadequacy of representation of SC/ST."

The apex court also stated that it was neither legal nor proper for the courts to issue directions or advisory sermons to the executive in respect of the sphere which was exclusively within their domain.

(With inputs from PTI.)