Can earmark post for scheduled caste when representation is inadequate: Punjab and Haryana High Court

Saurabh Malik

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Chandigarh, February 3

In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the State can earmark a post for scheduled caste category candidate, when the law permits reservation for them, their representation is inadequate in the cadre and relatable data to this effect is available.

A Division Bench of the High Court also ruled the Chandigarh Administration did not act illegally in earmarking the post of senior scale stenographer for the scheduled caste category. The assertion came as the Bench of Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur took note of the fact that scheduled caste category candidate had not been appointed since 2004, and their representation was inadequate in the senior scale stenographer cadre.

The assertion came on a petition filed by the Chandigarh Administration and other petitioners against an employee and another respondent, challenging the order dated November 28, 2020, passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal.

The respondent-employee had approached the tribunal for quashing an order dated June 11, 2019, and advertisement dated June 14, 2019, by which his claim for promotion as senior scale stenographer was declined. The post was sought to be filled by way of direct recruitment by reserving it for the scheduled caste category.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted a memo made it clear that a scheduled caste category person was not appointed to the post of senior scale stenographer by promotion or direct recruitment since 2004. The petitioners had placed on record data proving inadequacy of representation of scheduled caste in the senior scale stenographer cadre, justifying the course of action adopted by them.

The Bench added the respondent did not controvert the data. It, as such, could not be denied that there was inadequate representation of scheduled caste category persons in the cadre. “When the law permits reservation for scheduled caste category persons when there is inadequacy of representation of such persons in the cadre where data relatable to the said cadre is available, it cannot be said that the petitioners had acted illegally in earmarking the post of senior scale stenographer for scheduled caste category person and they ought to have continued to promote persons like the respondent, who belonged to the general category, like in the past, defeating Article 16(4A) of the Constitution of India,” said the Bench.

Allowing the petition, the Bench added the Tribunal’s view that the petitioners were trying to provide reservation in appointment against the post, to be filled by way of promotion, indirectly which they cannot do directly, was incorrect. The regulations specifically permitted the filling of a post by direct recruitment if they cannot do so by way of promotion. It appeared that the attention of the Tribunal was not drawn to the regulations dealing with filling of the post of senior scale stenographer.