A month after the Supreme Court observed that reservations in promotions was not a fundamental right, the Uttarakhand state government on Wednesday removed quotas in promotions for SC/ST employees.
The move came after over 1.5 lakh General/OBC employees went on an indefinite strike from March 2 demanding the removal of quotas. 30,000 SC/ST employees, in turn, went on strike demanding that it remain.
On March 17, the Trivendra Rawat state government invited the striking employees for talks. During the talks, the Chief Secretary agreed to implement their demands to uphold the SC verdict.
Since September 11, 2019, the state government had imposed a stay on promotions in the state. The freeze on promotions in the state jobs was lifted by an order issued by Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh.
The background was a decision by the state governmnet in 2012 to fill in government posts without providing for reservation. This decision was challenged by the state's high court in 2019 which led to stay on all promotions.
In his order, Singh said that the moratorium on promotion was being lifted in the light of a Supreme Court order last month which had set aside a high court ruling, which, in turn, had struck down a state government's decision dating back to September 2012 not to provide reservation in promotions.
The government order lifts the stay on promotions in state government jobs, educational institutions, public undertakings and autonomous bodies, the chief secretary said in his order.
Reservation in promotions was not a fundamental right, the Supreme Court had said.
Citing the operative part of the apex court order to justify the move, Singh said the government order dated September 11, 2019 is revoked so that action on an earlier government order dated Sept 5, 2012 can be taken.
The Supreme Court in its February 7 verdict on BK Pavitra v. Union of India - II had observed that state governments could not be bound by the court to make reservations in promotions , giving states discretion to decide whether it was necessary. Citing Articles 16(40 and 16 (4-A) of the Constitution concerning equal opportunity in employment and reservations in matters of promotion, the apex court said that states could provide for such reservation if they felt that such communities were “not adequately represented in the services of the State”.
It also said that should states wish to provide reservations in promotions, they should collect quantifiable data showing inadequacy of representation of a class or community in public services. Should their decision be challenged, they would have to produce this data before the court to prove that reservation was necessary and that it would not affect the efficacy of administration.
The Congress had protested against the Uttarakhand government’s arguments made before the court that reservation in promotions was not a fundamental right, with Rahul Gandhi saying that it was in the DNA of the BJP and the RSS to erase reservations.
"They (the RSS and BJP) wake up every morning and this [reservation] irritates them. Except it is in our Constitution, and these rights are guaranteed by our Constitution," Gandhi had said.
The Uttarakhand General-OBC employee association that had been on strike has welcomed the move. The SC/ST employees association has yet to comment.
March 18 also marked the day that Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat completed three years of office in the state.
With inputs from PTI