Supreme Court removes SC/ST reservations in govt jobs promotion

New Delhi : Supreme Court on Wednesday removed SC/ST reservation over promotions in the government jobs. The verdict comes over centre's plea seeking reconsideration of 2006 judgment laying down the criteria for reservation in promotion for SC/ST employees which the government has contended is coming in the way of filling lakhs of vacancies in different departments.

The apex court also turned down the Centre's plea that overall population of SC/ST be considered for granting quota for them.

The unanimous judgement was pronounced by a five-judge Constitution bench.

A five-judge constitution bench, in its 2006 verdict in the M Nagraj case, had said the states are bound to provide quantifiable data on the backwardness of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), the facts about their inadequate representation in government jobs and the overall administrative efficiency, before providing quota in promotions to members of these communities.