BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court advised the state government to withdraw the provisional seniority list of officers of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) and issue a fresh seniority list, keeping in mind judgments of the apex court regarding the treatment of backlog vacancies in promotions and post-based reservation.
Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav passed the order while rejecting a batch of petitions filed by officers of KPTCL belonging to the General Category, questioning the provisional seniority list.
“It is the stand of the state in the context of the challenge to the government order dated June 24, 2019, that the Reservation Act, 2018, would prevail over the notifications... in order to avoid any further confusion, it would be appropriate that the government order that was specifically passed to implement the Reservation Act, 2018, be withdrawn while reserving liberty to pass a fresh government order containing comprehensive guidelines, keeping in mind all judgments of the apex court enunciating the law as regards the treatment of backlog vacancies in promotion, post-based reservation, addressing the issue of those from the reserved category being eligible in general merit and such other relevant aspects,” the court said.
However, the court clarified that this direction will not have any bearing on its conclusion on the seniority list impugned in the writ petitions.