Supreme Court on Friday refused to dilute conditions for reservation in promotion for SC/STs.
The apex court ruled that collection of quantifiable data is mandatory apart from assessment of inadequacy of representation after a periodic review.
It said that states are obliged to collect quantifiable data on inadequacy of representation for SCs and STs employees in government jobs before implementing reservation for them in promotion.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Nageswara Rao had heard all the parties in the matter including Attorney General K K Venugopal, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Balbir Singh, and other senior lawyers appearing for various states.
The Centre had earlier told the bench that it is a fact of life that even after around 75 years those belonging to SCs and STs have not been brought to the same level of merit as the forward classes.
Venugopal had submitted that it is more difficult for those belonging to the SCs and STs to get a higher post in group A category of jobs and time has come when the apex court should give some concrete basis for SCs, STs, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to fill up vacancies.
The bench had earlier said it would not reopen its decision on the issue of the grant of reservation in promotion to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and said it was for the states to decide how they are going to implement the same.
The apex court had reserved its verdict on October 26, 2021.
(With PTI Inputs)
