BENGALURU: Not satisfied with the information furnished by the State government as mandated by it a month ago in connection with the case relating to consequential seniority in promotions for reserved categories in all its departments, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the State to furnish exhaustive details of all promotions and demotions by May 9.
Also, in a big blow to hundreds of employees attempting to cancel their recent demotions effected in light of the SC order through appeals in other courts, the SC ordered that neither the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) nor the High Court could grant a stay in any of the orders effected by the State government.
The SC bench was hearing the contempt petition filed by AHIMSA (acronym for organisation of people from general category, backward classes and minorities) in connection with the BK Pavithra and Others Vs Subash Chandra Kuntia (former State Chief Secretary). The organisation filed this petition to bring the Court's notice to the non-implementation of its February 9, 2017 verdict which struck down consequential seniority of SC/ST candidates in promotions.
State Advocate General Madhusudhan Naik told The New Indian Express that the State had filed an affidavit in the Court today with the list.
"We have complied with the directive. The Court felt there were insufficient papers submitted and asked us to submit all documents in the next hearing on May 9," he said. Asked about the preparedness of the State on this matter, Naik said, "There are thousands of papers pertaining to all departments. We have readied everything but did not submit them today."
No one in the government was able to give a specific number on the exact promotions and demotions across the State.
AHIMSA president M Nagaraj, present at the hearing, said that the SC also vacated the stay granted in such cases by the KAT. "A total 20 employees of the SC/ST cadre belonging to the Revenue and Veterinary department among others obtained a stay against their demotions on April 19 by filing a petition in the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT). Another 500 applications of reserved candidates (in batches) contesting their demotions was to be heard on Thursday," Nagaraj said.
"How can other courts intervene and stop implementation of the SC order?, he posed rhetorically.
Earlier, in the day, AHIMSA pointed out to the SC that the State had the list of demotions but not on promotions.
A top official told The New Indian Express that though the promotion and demotion orders were present on paper, there was no change in the ground reality as of now. "The concerned individuals continued to occupy their earlier positions only in most offices," he alleged.