No referring to larger bench

Refusing to refer the issue of SC/ST quota in promotions in government jobs to a larger bench, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has dropped the criteria of quantifiable data to prove backwardness.

The criteria of quantifiable data for giving reservation was mooted in the M Nagraj judgment of 2006, which the apex court says is contrary to the 1992 judgment of the nine-judge Bench in Indra Sawhney case.

The five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has thus cleared reservations in promotion in a unanimous verdict.

At the time of reserving the judgment last month, the CJI had noted that no state had prepared "quantifiable data" despite such a direction in the Nagaraj case.

In the Nagaraj judgement in 2006, the Supreme Court had held that there was no compulsion on the state to provide reservation in promotions to SCs/STs. But if any state wished to give promotion, it was required to collect quantifiable data to prove the

backwardness etc. The state was also required to ensure that the reservation does not breach the 50 per cent ceiling.

The 2006 judgment required the government to show in each case the existence of compelling reasons, namely backwardness, inadequacy of representation of SC/STs and overall administrative efficiency, before making provision for reservation in promotion." The Supreme Court on Wednesday shot down the Centre's plea that the overall population of SC/STs be considered for granting reservation.

Prominent Dalit leader and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati welcomed the judgment "to a certain extent as the since court did not impose any restrictions and clearly said that the Centre or State government can provide reservation if they want.’’ The Centre and various state governments had sought reconsideration of the 12-year-old verdict on various grounds. Appearing for the Centre Attorney General K K Venugopal, had sought reconsideration of the Nagaraj verdict, saying it was not implementable.