SC to revisit its ruling on quota in promotions for SCs and STs

NEW DELHI: A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court will revisit the issue of reservations in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.

The move, made at the request of the Attorney General, among others, comes more than a decade after the SC ruled that it was up to the state governments to decide on promotions for SCs and STs provided there was quantifiable data to prove backwardness and lack of representation in services.

A date for the hearing is yet to be indicated. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for petitioners from Madhya Pradesh, had called for reconsideration of the 2006 judgement, in the case of ‘M Nagaraj v. Union of India.’

The ruling capped reservations at 50% and excluded the creamy layer of SCs and STs from job quotas. It clearly spelt out that the ceiling and considerations such as creamy layer are applicable even to reservations in promotions.

The MP petitioners argued for reconsideration of the matter, specifically on the ground that a test of backwardness should not be applied to SCs and STs. The contentious issue is likely to generate debates with proand anti-quota lobbies jumping into the legal battle.

Those plugging for job quotas will favour automatic reservation for SCs and STs in promotions, unfettered by the 50% cap and exclusion of candidates from the creamy layer.

Among those who called for reconsideration of the ruling was Attorney General KK Venugopal. Any outcome in this matter will have a crucial bearing on the quantum of reservations, a politically significant issue.




Several states already provide for reservations that exceed the 50% cap, citing special factors such as the predominance of a tribal population. Some have placed their reservation laws in the Ninth Schedule, which is outside the purview of judicial review. Others are clamouring to follow, prompted by the electoral clout wielded by numerically significant communities.

One such category created during the VP Singh regime was the Other Backward Classes, for which a 27% quota was earmarked in jobs and admissions.