Amid huge uproar in Parliament on Monday over the controversial Supreme Court judgment ruling that reservations in promotions in government jobs is not a fundamental right, Loksabha was adjourned. The opposition as well as a few allies of the government expressed their discontentment against the Supreme Court judgment.
The congress party speaking against the judgment targeted that the BJP-RSS combine saying that it is fundamentally against reservation.
The opposition parties and government’s allies including Congress, CPI(M), CPI, RJD, Lok Jan Shakti Party, Apna Dal(S) have spoken spoke in Parliament against the judgment.
However, the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, “It is a Supreme Court judgement, government has nothing to do with it.”
He also blamed the congress party for unnecessarily politicising the issue.
Social Welfare Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot said the central government had no role in the court decision and neither the court had sought the government’s view. “We are studying the subject and we will take an appropriate decision,” said Gehlot. h
Both Gehlot and Rajnath said that the court order was linked to the decision of a Congress government in Uttarakhand in 2012 not to have reservations for SC/STs in government job promotions.
SC judgement
In a judgment delivered on Friday, the top court ruled that state governments are not legally bound to provide for quotas in public jobs and promotion to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
“It is settled law that state govt can’t be directed to provide reservations for appointment in public posts. Similarly, the state is not bound to make reservation for SCs and STs in matters of promotions,” said a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta while hearing pleas regarding Uttarakhand government’s September 5, 2012 notification, to fill up all posts in public services in the State without providing reservations to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Then, Congress party was ruling the state.
However, the Uttrakhand High Court had squashed the notification and asked the then congress government to provide reservation in promotions.
Setting aside the order of Uttarakhand High Court, the bench said: “…the direction given by the High Court that the State Government should first collect data regarding the adequacy or inadequacy of representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Government services on the basis of which the State Government should take a decision whether or not to provide reservation in promotion is contrary to the law laid down by this Court…”
“…Yet another direction given by the High Court in its judgment dated 15.07.2019, directing that all future vacancies that are to be filled up by promotion in the posts of Assistant Engineer, should only be from the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, is wholly unjustifiable and is hence set aside,” the SC bench further said.
Download the full judgment here