BELAGAVI: Coming to the rescue of thousands of government employees, whose positions were hanging in balance in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s verdict in February on reservation in promotions, the Legislative Assembly on Friday unanimously passed the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation Bill.
Though, the opposition strongly backed reservation in promotions for SC and ST government employees based on their population, they cautioned the government to tread the path cautiously. Passing of such a Bill should not backfire in the Supreme Court as a special leave petition on the apex court’s February order is already pending for hearing, they said.
Criticising the government, Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar charged that if it had placed material facts on fulfilment of inadequacy in representation, backwardness and overall efficiency of these groups before the court, it would not have suffered a setback. Instead of acting when the case was going on, the government is now in a hurry to pass the Bill, he added.
Seeking to review the bill further, the BJP leader said the government should take the opinion of former Supreme Court judges and the Law Commission to ensure that the Bill is not struck down again by the apex court.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy sought to know whether passage of the Bill will benefit the State in its fight against a special leave petition pending in the court and whether it will help in ensuring social justice for SC/ST employees. Replying to him, Law Minister T B Jayachandra said that in the absence of a law, the government was not in a position to implement the Supreme Court’s direction. The bill was introduced in this backdrop, he added.
Appealing for a balance between social justice and natural justice, for those other than SC/ST groups, MLA C T Ravi said irrespective of passing the bill the government should fill up backlog posts in all departments and also should not deprive employees of other communities of promotion wherever it was due.
Another BJP member Govind Karjol questioned the government’s honesty in ensuring welfare of SC/STs and questioned why it waited for nine months to introduce the Bill when the Supreme Court verdict had come out in February itself. Since the deadline given by the apex court expires on November 30, the Bill has been brought in hurry. he added.