Lucknow: Protesting the implementation of quota for promotion, hundreds of state government employees, along with their families, participated in ‘Chetavni Daud’, here on Sunday. Some local politicians attended the protest as well.
The protest march started from Gomtinagar and culminated near the official residence of Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath.
“The objective of our rally was to apprise the chief minister about the repercussions of introducing reservation in promotion of government employees,” said Pratap Chandra, head of a local political party and also one of the organisers of the rally. Pratap reiterated that the protests would intensify if demands are not met.
The Centre on Friday asked all its departments and state governments to implement reservation in promotion for employees belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories, following a recent verdict by the Supreme Court.
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is yet to issue any statements regarding the development. However, some groups believe it could be implemented soon in the state.
“Though the advisory by the central government doesn’t specify any state government, we fear that the UP government may implement it. However, the state government will have to pass an order to do so, which we will oppose,” said Shailendra Dubey of Sarvajan Hitay Sanrakshan Samiti.
The advisory is witnessing opposition yet, Dalit Mahasabha, the organisation that conferred upon the ‘Dalit Mitr’ award on CM Adityanath, has welcomed the move.
“The advisory issued by the central government proves that the PM and BJP are genuinely concerned about protecting the rights of people from backward class,” said Lalji Prasad Nirmal, President of the Dalit Mahasabha.
On June 5, the Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan of the apex court had allowed the Centre to go ahead with reservation in promotion for employees belonging to the SC and ST category in ‘accordance with law’. The Additional Solicitor General (ASG), Maninder Singh, was representing the government and cited the cases on the issue of quota in promotion in government jobs. He stated that the apex court’s 2006 judgment in M Nagaraj case would be applicable.
The M Nagaraj verdict had said the creamy layer concept cannot be applied to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for promotions in government jobs like two earlier verdicts of 1992 Indra Sawhney and others versus Union of India and 2005 EV Chinnaiah versus State of Andhra Pradesh, which dealt with creamy layer in Other Backward Classes category.
On November 15 last year, a three-judge bench of the apex court had agreed to consider whether its 11-year-old judgement in M Nagaraj case was needed to be re-visited. The nine-judge bench of Supreme Court had, in the Indira Sawhney case in 1992, permitted reservation for the SCs and STs in promotion to continue for a period of five years from November 16, 1992.
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