BENGALURU: Even as government departments across the State are busy meeting the April 20 deadline specified by the Supreme Court to effect all promotions and demotions, ten Karnataka High Court employees have approached the highest court and obtained a stay against their demotion.
The State's judiciary had already completed the preparation of its final list and was set to implement it. Meanwhile, a Deputy Registrar at the HC Baby S. Janaki and nine others who face demotion had filed a Special Leave Petition contesting the decision in the SC.
In the hearing held in New Delhi on April 13, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said, "The judgment of this Court in (2017) 4 SCC 620 be complied with but there will be reversion of the petitioners in this case."
Explaining the implications of the verdict, a senior representative of AHIMSA (organisation of people from General Category, backward classes and Minorities), who had filed a case in the Supreme Court against the State Government, said, "This effectively means that the demotions effected in the case of Janaki and nine others have been stayed for now."
The contempt of court petition against the State was filed by AHIMSA on August 30, 2017 in connection with non implementation of the SC's Feb 9, 2017 order which struck down consequential seniority in promotions for the SC/ST cadre effected by the State government since 1978. The organisation representative (requesting anonymity) told Express that AHIMSA would now file a petition next week in the Supreme Court urgently praying for the stay to be vacated.