ISSUE

The long-pending issue, which resulted in many employees retiring without getting their promotions and associated monetary benefits, has been flagged by workers’ unions pushing the government to pursue the issue in court.

The stand-off began when a decision by the Uttar Pradesh government led by then chief minister Mayawati to implement reservations in promotion was challenged in court and in April 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Allahabad high court ruling saying that the move was unconstitutional and against the top court’s 2006 verdict that quotas in promotions are subject to a quantifiable data and evidence to establish the need for them. In 2012, the Constitutional Amendment Bill (117th), providing quotas for promotions in government posts to members of scheduled castes (SCs) and schedules tribes (STs) was passed in the Rajya Sabha, but could not be passed in Lok Sabha. The high courts of Delhi, Bombay, Punjab and Haryana quashed state legislations providing promotion to SC/ST employees, appeals against which are pending before the SC.

Those opposed to reservations also knocked on the doors of the judiciary.