Reservation in Promotions: Supreme Court Holds Cadre As Unit For Collecting Quantifiable Data On Adequacy Of Representation; Collection Of Data On Entire Service Meaningless [Updated With Judgment]

The Supreme Court on Friday delivered the judgment in the issue relating to reservation in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Centre and States had urged the Supreme Court to settle the confusion regarding the norms for reservation in promotions saying that several appointments have been stalled due to ambiguities.A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, Sanjiv Khanna and B.R.Gavai had reserved judgment on October 26, after hearing the matter following the reference answered in 2018 by a 5-judge bench in the case Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta.The bench made the following pronouncements today :Court cannot lay down any yardstick to determine inadequacy of representation.State is obligated to collect quantifiable data regarding adequacy of representation.Cadre should be unit for collection for quantifiable data for reservation. The collection cannot be with respect to the entire class/class/group, but it should be relatable to Grade/Category of post to which promotion is sought. Cadre should be the unit for collecting quantifiable data. it would be meaning less if collection of data is w.r.t the entire service.Nagaraj judgment of 2006 would have a prospective effect.The conclusion in BK Pavitra (II) approving the collection of data on the basis of groups and not cadres is contrary to the dictum in Jarnail Singh.Justice Nageswara Rao, the presiding judge of the bench, pronounced the operative portions of the judgment today morning as follows :"On the basis of arguments, we have divided submission into 6 points. One is yardstick. In the light of Jarnail Singh and Nagaraj, we have said we cannot lay down any yardstick. With respect to the unit for collecting quantifiable data, we have said that the State is obligated to collect quantifiable data. The collection cannot be with respect to the entire class/class/group, but it should be relatable to Grade/Category of post to which promotion is sought. Cadre should be the unit for collecting quantifiable data. It would be meaningless if the collection of data is with respect to the entire service.We have held that Nagaraj would have prospective effect and thereafter pertaining to the judgment of B.K. Pavitra II, we have held that the conclusion in B.K. Pavitra II approving the collection of data on the basis of groups and not cadres is contrary to the law laid down in Nagaraja and Jarnail SIngh.For Proportionate representation and test of adequacy - As Jarnail Singh refused to go into that aspect we have not gone into it, we have left it to the state to assess inadequacy of representation of SCs/STs in promotion of post by taking into account relevant factors".Time period of review - We said review has to be conducted regarding data for the purpose of determining inadequacy of representation and for providing reservation in promotion. And the period of review should be reasonable and left to the Government to set the period of review".Justice Rao further said, "We have not expressed any opinion on the merits of individual cases. We have answered only the common issues formulated after hearing the parties. We are listing the matter on 24th Feb. We already have groups given by the Attorney General. Matters of some groups will come upon 24th Feb. We will list the Central Government matters first, we will take up the Contempt Petition against Home Secretary on that day".Reasons given by the CourtFor not laying down a yardstick to determine backwardness :It is well-established that it is neither legal nor proper for the Courts to issue directions or advisory sermons to the executive in respect of the sphere which is exclusively within their domain under the Constitution".Determination of inadequate representation of SCs and STs in services under a State is left to the discretion of the State, as the determination depends upon myriad factors which this Court cannot envisage.Laying down of criteria for determining the inadequacy of representation would result in curtailing the discretion given to the State Governments. In addition, the prevailing local conditions, which may require to be factored in, might not be uniform.Therefore, we are of the opinion that no yardstick can be laid down by this Court for determining the adequacy of representation of SCs and STs in promotional posts for the purpose of providing reservation.Unit for collecting quantifiable dataCollection of quantifiable data regarding inadequacy of representation as stipulated by M. Nagaraj (supra) is relatable to the cadre concerned,While it is clear that the unit for collection of quantifiable data is with respect to a cadre, it is necessary o understand what cadre means.The present structure of the Central Civil Services is that a particular Service is divided across Groups, which further consist of grades.The right to be considered for appointment can only be claimed in respect of a post in a cadre. As a consequence, the percentage of reservation has to be worked out in...

Reservation in Promotions: Supreme Court Holds Cadre As Unit For Collecting Quantifiable Data On Adequacy Of Representation; Collection Of Data On Entire Service Meaningless [Updated With Judgment]

Sohini Chowdhury

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