BENGALURU: Despite no opposition from the Supreme Court, the fate of 45,000 government employees belonging to SC/ST communities continues to hang in a balance just because the state government is reluctant to go ahead with reservation-based promotions.
The JD(S)-Congress coalition government is dilly-dallying on the implementation of an ordinance that has received the President’s nod, and this, in turn, is delaying restoration of promotion to 3,795 SC/ST employees and stalling deemed promotions of about 5,000 more. The delay has been causing some rift with bureaucrats and ministers accusing the government of showing a lack of will towards the welfare of SC/ST employees.
“The JD(S)-Congress government is supposed to be pro-Dalit and pro-backwards but they are clearly not doing that. The President gave his assent in June. The state could have informed the Supreme Court and implemented it but they have been dragging it for months to benefit other communities,” a senior bureaucrat belonging to the SC/ST community said. Implementation of the ordinance, according to sources, is taken up in every cabinet meeting but to no avail. The issue was also discussed in the previous coordination committee meeting. “We will wait for the Supreme Court’s decision and take a call,” Siddaramaiah, chief of coordination committee had told reporters.
On September 26, the apex court while passing an order on the Nagaraj case, upheld its previous verdict that the governments are empowered to create reservations for SC/STs in promotions for any class of posts in the services where they aren’t adequately represented. The order allowed the government to sanction reservation-based promotions.
“The Bihar government passed a notification on July 23 that provides reservation for SCs and STs in promotions. The Karnataka government is, in fact, one step ahead with an ordinance that has received the President’s assent. There is no threat of contempt of court if the ordinance is implemented,” a senior leader said. While some in the government like Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara are lobbying for implementation, others are not too keen, according to the source.
Karnataka qualifies on SC’s requirementsThe Supreme Court is keen that the government that intends to sanction reservation-based promotion must collect data on the inadequacy of representation of a class, and show that it does not affect the efficiency of administration. It should also ensure that the 50 per cent ceiling is not breached and that the reservation is not extended indefinitely. Karnataka already satisfies all the requirements.
Since 1978, the state has been extending 15 per cent reservation to SCs and 3 per cent to STs in promotions. However, the representation of communities across class has been inadequate. In 2017, the state government had constituted a committee headed by then Additional Chief Secretary Rathna Prabha to collect information on the representation of SC/STs in government jobs. According to the report, inadequacies in representation was evident in Groups A, B and C.