by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, Government Jobs, News, Politics
New Delhi : Union cabinet has given its nod to 10 per cent quota for poor among the general categories in Jammu and Kashmir and also approved the provision for SC/ST reservation in promotion in government jobs in the state.
Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh said since Jammu and Kashmir is under the President’s Rule, the Cabinet on Tuesday in its meeting took these decisions.
Talking to reporters here at his official residence, Singh thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said it will help a certain section of society which belongs to lower economic strata and will benefit equally Jammu and Kashmir like other states.
He said the government had introduced the provision of reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
“That too has been approved for Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
“It will enable Jammu and Kashmir to be beneficiaries of the same public welfare measures for the benefit of the weaker sections that PM Modi initiated for the rest of the country,” he said.
Hailing the decision Singh said that these decisions show the Prime Minister’s extremely sensitive concern for the state.
“In the last 65 years, no earlier government had ever taken an initiative on these lines and even now these decisions have come forth in the interest of the state because of the Modi Government being at the helm at the Centre,” he said.
The Union Cabinet had in January this year took the decision to provide for 10 per cent quota for people belonging to ‘unreserved categories’, including Christians and Muslims, in jobs and education with an annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh and land-holding ceiling of about five acres, highly-placed sources said.
A Constitution Amendment bill for the purpose was recently passed by the Parliament.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court was told on Thursday that reservation in promotion is impermissible and unconstitutional, and it is the responsibility of the state to strike a balance while giving reservation in promotion to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Those opposing the reservation in promotion told the five-judge constitution bench headed by the Chief Justice Dipak Misra that there cannot be reservation without balance.
“The state is reposed with the responsibility to strike a balance and not just enforce reservation,” pleaded senior counsel Shanti Bhushan and Rajeev Dhavan on behalf of the respondents opposing the Centre’s plea for reconsideration of 2006 judgment by which top court had laid down the criteria for reservation in promotion for SC/ST.
Spelling out the foundational features of the 2006 Nagaraj judgment, Dhavan said that the creamy layer was a principle of equality and equality has to be substantive and not just formal.
He told the bench that Nagaraj judgment, for ensuring that equality as basic structure is not violated, had laid the pre-condition of compelling reasons — backwardness, inadequacy of representation — and overall administrative efficiency which the government has to satisfy before embarking for reservation in promotion.
Defending the Nagaraj judgment, Dhavan said it can be revisited only if there is foundational defect in it.
“There was no fatal flaw in Nagaraj judgment,” Dhavan told the constitution bench.
Earlier, arguing for another respondent, senior counsel Shanti Bhushan said that reservation is for a class of people who are backward and not for an individual in a cadre in government job.
Finding no infirmity with the reservation at the entry stage, Bhushan said that once a person is collector, Income Tax officer or holding any such or equivalent position then any reservation in promotion would be for an individual, as at that level no one is backward.
Reservation in government jobs at entry point would be for the “class of backward people”, but subsequent intra-cadre reservation would be for an individual, as having occupied a position in government service he cannot be described as backward.
Earlier, seeking reconsideration of the top court decision in Nagaraj judgement, senior counsel Indira Jaising said that the validity of the constitutional provisions could not be tested on the grounds of “compelling reasons — backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall administrative efficiency”.
Contending that there could not be any “quantitative exclusion” of SC/ST, Jaising said that it was only the “100-point roster system that would ensure that nobody (in reserved category) would exceed the ceiling limit of quota”.
Jaising appeared for an apex body of SC/ST employees serving in the government.
By its 2006 judgment, the top court had upheld the validity of Constitution’s 85th Amendment by which Article 16 (4A) — providing for reservation in promotion with consequential seniority” was inserted in the Constitution.
The reservation in promotion was to come into effect retrospectively from June 17, 1995.
The judgment that was pronounced on October 19, 2006, had said: “… State will have to show in each case the existence of compelling reasons, namely backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall administrative efficiency, before making provision for reservation in promotion.”
Senior counsel Dhavan will resume his arguments on August 29 – the next date of hearing.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Employment, Government Jobs, News, Politics
Prakash Javadekar
New Delhi : Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday said the Modi government was committed to reservation in the faculty positions of universities and that it does not agree with a court order quashing the 50 per cent reservation.
“The University Grants Commission (UGC) was forced to issue a 13-point roster after an Allahabad High Court ruling last year. But we do not agree with the court order,” Javadekar said.
“We have filed two SLPs (special leave petitions). The hearing is scheduled on August 13,” Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha after some members raised the issue during Zero Hour.
He said that the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry had already put on hold all interviews for recruitment for teaching positions in universities and colleges which were to be held under the roster pending a decision on the SLPs.
“We are hopeful we will be able to save reservation for Scheduled Castes, Sscheduled Tribes and OBCs. We will neither let it go, nor let others abolish it,” he said.
The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav. He termed the March 5 UGC roster that kept nine out of every 13 teaching positions as unreserved, giving three to OBCs and one to Scheduled Castes, as a “conspiracy” to deprive the SC, ST and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) of their due as guaranteed by the Constitution.
Yadav was seconded by senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and P.L Punia besides a number of other members siding with the cause.
The Allahabad high Court had in April last year struck down a UGC circular prescribing institution-wise reservation to fill vacant faculty positions. The Supreme Court too upheld the High Court’s order, prompting the UGC to issue a circular for reserving seats for SC, ST and OBCs department-wise.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, Government Jobs, News, Politics
Ram Vilas Paswan
New Delhi : Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday said reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) will continue at both at the Centre and in the states and directives in this regard will be issued soon.
“There was confusion over whether the Supreme Court’s order was applicable for just Central government employees or for state government employees. In our meeting of ministers, it was cleared that the reservation is for both Central and state government employees,” Paswan told reporters after attending the meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The apex court had said last week that the government was not debarred from making promotions in accordance with law, subject to further orders.
On June 5, the Supreme Court permitted the Central government to go ahead with reservation in promotions to certain categories of staff in accordance with law but did not stay a Delhi High Court judgment that quashed an office memorandum on such reservations.
Paswan said the quota in promotion was halted on account of the judgements passed by different high courts in the country.
The minister also said the government was ready with an ordinance to overturn the Supreme Court’s March 20 order that puts safeguards against arrests under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act but it would wait for the court’s final decision on the review petitions.
He also said the University Grant Commission (UGC) will also soon withdraw its order affecting reservation soon.
Paswan also reiterated his demand of reservation for those preferring inter-caste marriages.
—IANS
