Reservation in Promotion

This information was given by the  Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY to a written reply in Lok Sabha on 5.9.2012.

The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 19.10.2006 in the matter of M. Nagaraj & others v. Union of India & others [Writ Petition (C) No.61/2002] while upholding the validity of the Constitutional Amendments, viz. the 77th Amendment, the 81st Amendment, the 82nd Amendment and the 85th Amendment stipulated that the State concerned will have to show in each case the existence of the compelling reasons, namely, backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall administrative efficiency before making provision for reservation in promotion.

Relying on the judgment of the Supreme Court in M. Nagaraj case, the High Court of Rajasthan and the High Court of Allahabad have struck down the provisions for reservation in promotion in the services of State of Rajasthan and the State of Uttar Pradesh, respectively. The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 27.4.2012 in the case of UP Power Corporation Ltd. v/s. Rajesh Kumar & Ors. upheld the decision of the High Court of Allahabad.

An all Party Meeting was held by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 21.8.2012 to discuss the issue.

At present, there is no proposal under consideration of the Government to provide reservation in promotion to OBCs and Backward minorities. The provisions of the Constitution do not enable the Government for making provisions for reservation in promotion in favour of OBCs.