Norms for quota in promotions

In News 

Recently ,The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has asked all departments of the central government to collect the data on inadequacy of representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes before implementing the policy of reservation in promotion in government offices.

Major Points 

• The government’s memorandum referred to the January 2022 verdict and said three conditions were laid down by the apex court 
  •  the collection of quantifiable data regarding the inadequacy of representation of SCs and STs
  • the application of this data to each cadre separately, 
  • the cadre being the unit of operation of the promotion roster.
• All ministries are required to ensure that the above conditions are complied with before implementing the policy of reservation in promotions and carrying any promotions based thereon,
• The document also asked the ministries to appoint a liaison officer to ensure reservation rosters were strictly maintained. 
• The order also says that any promotion orders issued will be subject to further orders by the Supreme Court in a pending batch of cases on the subject.
• The DPC (Departmental Promotion Committee), has to “carefully assess” the suitability of officers considered for promotion and the appointing authority will only issue appointment or promotion orders after conditions are met. 
• The ministries were told to urgently bring these to the notice of all subordinate offices, public sector undertakings and statutory bodies.
• DoPT laid down the procedure to be followed prior to effecting reservations in the matter of promotions.

Aims of the move

• The move is likely to benefit Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officials who have not been promoted for the past six years. 
  • The CSS comprises middle to senior management rank officials in various Union government ministries

• The move appears to be aimed at ameliorating the two communities that are angry at the years-long delay in clearing promotions for officers belonging to these groups. SCs and STs have 15% and 7.5% reservation in government jobs, respectively, and together form more than a quarter of the country’s population. In recent years, they have emerged as a key political lever with the potential to make or break elections, with many political parties vying for their support.

Supreme Court’s Stand

• In January 2022, the top court turned down the Union government’s plea to dilute the requirement of quantifiable data, emphasising that adequacy of representation cannot be gauged either on the basis of data on representation of SCs/STs with reference to entire service or in proportion of their population.
• Before providing for reservation in promotions to a cadre, the state is obligated to collect quantifiable data regarding inadequacy of representation of SCs and STs. 
• Collection of information regarding inadequacy of representation of SCs and STs cannot be with reference to the entire service or class/group but it should be relatable to the grade/category of posts to which promotion is sought,”
• In February 2022, while hearing some petitions against certain high court orders, the top court made it clear that it was looking for contemporaneous data, and not old data collected by the government. 
• In March 2022, the top court said it would examine whether the data being cited by the Centre can be considered “contemporaneous cadre-wise data” that it wanted, or not. 
• During the hearing on that day, the court also rejected a plea by a group of reserved category employees who sought consideration of their objections to the January 28 judgement by which the court required Centre and states to collect quantifiable data for implementation reservation in promotion for SC/ST. 
  • The matter will be heard next on May 11.

Attorney  General Views

• It said that following a January 28 Supreme Court judgement, the Attorney General has opined that three conditions are to be met while implementing the policy of reservation in promotions.
  • (i) Collection of quantifiable data regarding inadequacy of representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
  •  (ii) Application of this data to each cadre separately; and
  •  (iii) If a roster exists, the unit for operation of the rooster would be the cadre or which the quantifiable data would have to be collected and applied in regard to the filling up of the vacancies in the roster.”

Arguments Against Quota in Promotions

• Not a Fundamental Right: The Supreme Court reiterated in a judgement that reservation in promotion in public posts cannot be claimed as a fundamental right.
• Impact on Efficiency: Promotions to SCs and STs during appointments to services and promotions may make it difficult to maintain the efficiency of administration.
• Redundancy of Reservation: The SCs and STs are getting the benefits of reservation in the appointments to various servicers. Therefore, it is undesirable and inefficient to provide quota in promotions for key posts.
• Not a Compulsion for Government: The Constitution empowers the State to make reservation in matters of appointment and promotion in favour of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes only “if in the opinion of the State they are not adequately represented in the services of the State”.

Need for Quota in Promotions

• Representation in Higher Echelons: The main reason for giving promotions in promotions is that there are very few SC/ST candidates in the higher echelons of government.
• Proper Access to Opportunity: Centuries of discrimination and prejudice suffered by the SCs and STs in a feudal, caste-oriented societal structure poses real barriers of access to opportunity.
• Constitutional Mandate: Constitution mandates realisation of substantive equality in the engagement of the fundamental rights with the directive principles
• Special Measures Needed: Unless special measures are adopted for the SCs and STs in promotions also, the mandate of the Constitution for the consideration of their claim to appointment will remain illusory.
• False Notion of Efficiency: The Constitution does not define what the framers meant by the phrase efficiency of administration. It is a stereotypical assumption that the promotees drawn from the SCs and STs are not efficient or that efficiency is reduced by appointing them.

Constitutional Provisions for Promotion in Reservation

• Article 16 (4): 
  • Provides that the State can make any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens who, in the opinion of the state, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.
• Article 16 (4A): 
  • Provides that the State can make any provision for reservation in matters of promotion in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes if they are not adequately represented in the services under the State.
  • It was inserted by the 77th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1995.
• Article 16(4B): 
  • Added by the 81st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000 which enabled the unfilled SC/ST quota of a particular year to be carried forward to the next year.
• Article 335: 
  • It recognises that special measures need to be adopted for considering the claims of SCs and STs to services and posts, in order to bring them at par.
• 82nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2000: 
  • Inserted a condition at the end of Article 335 that enables the state to make any provision in favour of the members of the SC/STs for relaxation in qualifying marks in any examination.

Image Courtesy: IE 

Way Ahead

• The government can come up with certain guidelines to accommodate demands of SC/ST quota in promotions.
• The State is not bound to make reservation for SC/ST in matter of promotions: However, if they wish to exercise their discretion and make such provision, the State has to collect quantifiable data showing backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that class in public employment in addition to compliance of Article 335.
• Equality and constitutional reasonableness are basic features of the constitution: and cannot be given short shrift for achieving social justice.

Source:TH