{"id":54419,"date":"2020-02-11T17:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T11:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54419"},"modified":"2020-02-26T17:22:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T11:52:00","slug":"7-pm-reservations-as-a-right-on-sc-judgment-on-reservations-in-promotions11th-february-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-reservations-as-a-right-on-sc-judgment-on-reservations-in-promotions11th-february-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM |Reservations as a right: On SC judgment on reservations in promotions|11th February 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>Reservation\nin appointments and promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>A Supreme Court judgement last week\noverturned a 2012 Uttarakhand High Court verdict, and ruled that reservations\nand promotion quotas are not a fundamental right.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reservation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Reservation in India is provided as a\nform of affirmative action acting as a positive discrimination, which means\nreserving access to seats in the government jobs, educational institutions, and\neven legislatures to certain sections of the population such as Scheduled\nCastes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.<\/li><li>The reservation nourishes the\nhistorically disadvantaged castes and tribes, listed as&nbsp;Scheduled Castes\nand Scheduled tribes (SCs and STs)&nbsp;by the Government of India, also those\ndesignated as&nbsp;Other Backwards Classes (OBCs)&nbsp;and also the\neconomically backward general.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The reservation is undertaken to address\nthe historic oppression, inequality, and discrimination faced by those\ncommunities and to give these communities a place.&nbsp;<\/li><li>It is intended to realise the promise of\nequality enshrined in the Constitution.<\/li><li>The Constitutional basis being:<\/li><li><strong>Article 15 (4): <\/strong>It\nallows State to make any special provision for the&nbsp;advancement&nbsp;of any\nsocially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled\nCastes and the Scheduled Tribes.<\/li><li><strong>Article 16 (4): <\/strong>It\nallows State to make any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts\nin favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State,\nis&nbsp;not adequately represented&nbsp;in the services under the State.<\/li><li><strong>Article 16 (4A):<\/strong> It\nallows State to make any provision for reservation in matters of promotion,\nwith consequential seniority, to any class or classes of posts in the services\nunder the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes\nwhich, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the\nservices under the State.<\/li><li><strong>Article 335 <\/strong>recognises that\nspecial measures need to be adopted for considering the claims of SCs and STs\nin order to bring them to a level-playing field.<\/li><li>To summarise, the Constitution of India\ngrants state government the power to reserve vacancies for backward sections,\nand even grant reservation in matters of promotion for posts under it. This can\nbe done if the state believes that the reserved categories are inadequately\nrepresented in public services under it.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\nis the Case?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Supreme Court decision came against\npleas regarding Uttarakhand government&#8217;s decision (in 2012) to fill up all\nposts in public services in the state without providing reservations to\nScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. <\/li><li>The government&#8217;s decision was challenged\nin the Uttarakhand High Court, which struck it down and in turn directed the\ngovernment to collect quantifiable data regarding inadequacy of the\nrepresentation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government\nservices so as to make an informed decision regarding the provision of\nreservations. This was then appealed to the Supreme Court.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Supreme\nCourts Recent Judgement (Mukesh Kumar and Anr versus The state of Uttarakhand\nand ors.):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>A Supreme Court bench of justices L\nNageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta ruled that states are not bound to make\nreservations, nor is reservation in promotions a fundamental right. The top\ncourt said that it cannot order state governments to provide reservations.<\/li><li>The Supreme Court, taking recourse to\nits previous decisions, stated that the duty of the state to make reservations\nis only a discretionary power which can be exercised only as per its wish and\nthat the state government cannot be directed to provide reservations for\nappointment in public posts. <\/li><li>Moreover, the need for the state to\ncollect quantifiable data showing inadequacy of representation of that class in\npublic services is only necessitated if it wishes to exercise its discretion\nand make such provision for reservations.<\/li><li>Thereby, while setting aside direction\nissued by the High Court, the SC bench observed that the State Government is\nnot bound to make reservations and there is no fundamental right which inheres\nin an individual to claim reservation in promotions.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Previous\njudgments rendered by the court:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Indra\nSawney Case, 1992: <\/strong><\/li><li>The\nintroduction of Article 16 (4-A) happened in light of the judgment\nof&nbsp;Indra Sawney versus Union of India, where the court had held that no\nreservations can be made in cases of promotions.<\/li><li>It\nadded that&nbsp;the principle would operate&nbsp;only prospectively&nbsp;and\nnot affect promotions already made and that reservation already provided in\npromotions shall continue in operation for a period of five years from the date\nof the judgment.<\/li><li>It\nalso ruled that the creamy layer can be and must be excluded.<\/li><li><strong>Nagaraj\ncase in 2006:<\/strong> <\/li><li>The\nCourt in&nbsp;M Nagaraj versus Union of India&nbsp;upheld the constitutionality\nof the provision concerning promotions subject to the qualification of the\nstate feeling the need to provide the quota. <\/li><li>This\nstands in addition to the court&#8217;s decision that Article 16(4) has to be read\nalong with Article 335 of the Constitution, the effect of which is that the\nstate should provide reservations on grounds of inadequate representation if\nsuch reservations do not adversely affect the maintenance of efficiency of\nadministration.<\/li><li><strong>Jarnail\nSingh &amp; Ors vs. Lacchmi Narain Gupta &amp; Ors:<\/strong><\/li><li>In 2018,\nthe Supreme Court delivered&nbsp;its verdict&nbsp;in the&nbsp;Reservation in\nPromotion case. A five-judge Bench of the Supreme&nbsp;Court unanimously held\nthat the judgment&nbsp;delivered in&nbsp;Nagaraj&nbsp;in 2006, relating to\nreservations in promotions for SC\/ST persons, does not need reconsideration by\na larger seven-judge Bench. The Bench also struck the demonstration of further\nbackwardness criterion from&nbsp;Nagaraj.<\/li><li>On\none hand the Court struck&nbsp;down the further backwardness criterion, while on\nthe other hand&nbsp;introduced the&nbsp;principle of creamy layer exclusion. It\nheld that creamy layer exclusion extends to SC\/STs and, hence&nbsp;the State\ncannot grant reservations in promotion to SC\/ST individuals who belong to the\ncreamy layer of their community.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Advantages\nof Reservation Policy in India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Historical\ninjustice:<\/strong>\nReservations are a political necessity&nbsp;in India, for giving due\nrepresentation to all&nbsp;sections who have been historically neglected\nbecause of deep rooted caste system.<\/li><li>Although&nbsp;Reservation schemes do\nundermine the quality of education but still \u2018<strong>Affirmative Action\u2019<\/strong> has helped many of the under-privileged or under-represented\ncommunities to grow and occupy top positions in the world\u2019s leading&nbsp;industries.<\/li><li>Reservation schemes are needed to provide\nsocial justice&nbsp;to the&nbsp;most marginalized and underprivileged&nbsp;which\nis their&nbsp;human right.<\/li><li><strong>Meritocracy\nis meaningless without equality.&nbsp;<\/strong>First all people\nmust be brought to&nbsp;the same level, whether it elevates a section or\ndecelerates another, regardless of merit.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Negative\nfallouts of Reservation Policy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Reservation\nis similar to internal partition<\/strong>&nbsp;because in addition to\nbeing a form of ethnic&nbsp;discrimination, it also builds walls against\ninter-caste and inter-faith marriages.<\/li><li><strong>Reservations\nare the biggest enemy of meritocracy.<\/strong> By offering\nreservation through&nbsp;relaxed entry criteria, we are fuelling inflation of\nmoderate credentials as opposed to the&nbsp;promotion of merit based education\nsystem, which is the foundation of many progressive countries. <\/li><li><strong>Caste\nBased Reservation only perpetuates the notion of caste in society<\/strong>,&nbsp;rather\nthan&nbsp;weakening it as a factor of social consideration, as envisaged by the\nconstitution.&nbsp; Reservation is a tool to meet narrow political ends, by\ninvoking class loyalties and&nbsp;primordial identities.<\/li><li><strong>The\nbenefits of reservation policy have largely been appropriated&nbsp;by the\ndominant&nbsp;class <\/strong>within the backward castes, thereby the\nmost marginalised within the&nbsp;backward castes have remained marginalised.\nIt has been observed that mostly the beneficiaries of reservation have been the\nchildren of the highest paid professionals and high rank public officials.<\/li><li><strong>Poor\npeople from \u201cforward castes\u201d do not have any social or economic advantage<\/strong>&nbsp;over\nrich people from backward caste. In such a case, discriminating against the\n\u201cforward caste\u201d goes counter to the logic of reservation. It would create\nanother&nbsp;\u201cbackward class\u201d&nbsp;some years down the line. This \u2018perceived\u2019\ninjustice breads frustration and apathy in the society. The recent protests\ndemanding quotas by some of the forward castes, in Gujarat and Rajasthan, is\nthe testimony to this fact. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The issue of\nreservation has remained a cause of disagreement between the reserved and the\nnon- reserved sections of the society. Reservation is no doubt good,&nbsp;as\nfar as it is a method of appropriate positive discrimination for the benefit of\nthe downtrodden and economically backward Sections of the society but when it\ntends to harm the society and ensures privileges for some at the cost of others\nfor narrow political ends, as it is in the present form, it should be done away\nwith, as soon possible. It is time we address the challenge of reservations\nhonestly,&nbsp;openly, fairly and innovatively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/editorial\/reservation-as-right\/article30785768.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/editorial\/reservation-as-right\/article30785768.ece<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: Reservation in appointments and promotion. More in news: A Supreme Court judgement last week overturned a 2012 Uttarakhand High Court verdict, and ruled that reservations and promotion quotas are not a fundamental right. Reservation: Reservation in India is provided as a form of affirmative action acting as a positive discrimination, which means reserving access&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-reservations-as-a-right-on-sc-judgment-on-reservations-in-promotions11th-february-2020\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM |Reservations as a right: On SC judgment on reservations in promotions|11th February 2020<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,955],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-pm","category-7-pm-brief-infograph","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":564,"cached_at":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}