MP News: New Promotion Policy Unconstitutional, No Provision For Promotion On Merit For The SC/ST Category, States AJJAKS In HC

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Appearing before the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Tuesday, the Anusuchit Jati Jan -Jati Karamchari Adhikari Sangh (AJJAKS) called the new promotion policy for government employees “unconstitutional” and opposed its provision for creation of a gradation list.

The organisation also stated there was no provision in the rules for promotion on merit for the SC/ST category.

AJJAKS was presenting its arguments against the state’s new promotion policy before a bench comprising Madhya Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf.

The HC then questioned why AJJAKS  had not challenged the policy rules if there were such major flaws. In its response, AJJAKS urged the HC, at its discretion, to direct the state government to rectify the unconstitutionality in the rules in accordance with the guiding principles of the Supreme Court.

Senior advocate Rameshwar Singh Thakur, who appeared on behalf of AJJAKS, informed the court that promotion policy should first provide for the creation of a gradation list for the reserved category and also stipulate that employees from the reserved category who have been promoted on merit be also counted in the reserved category. 

This means that there is no provision in the rules for promotion on merit for the SC/ST category, whereas the Indira Sawhney judgment clearly stipulated that promotions should first be given in the unreserved category, followed by the reserved category, he added.

AJJAKS further argued that the creamy layer principle cannot be applied to the promotion rules, neither theoretically nor practically, and there is no constitutional provision in this regard.

AJJAKS also informed the court that, according to the data presented by the employees from all departments, there is insufficient representation of the reserved category.

The data presented by the petitioners includes all reserved category employees who have been promoted against unreserved posts on the basis of merit.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes constitute 36% of the total population of Madhya Pradesh, yet their representation in high-ranking positions is only 7 to 18%.