The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment on the issue of the grant of reservation in promotion to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Nageswara Rao heard all the parties in the matter including attorney general K K Venugopal, additional solicitor general Balbir Singh, and other senior lawyers appearing for various states.

The Centre had earlier told the bench also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai that it is a fact of life that even after around 75 years those belonging to SCs and STs have not been brought to the same level of merit as the forward classes.

Venugopal had submitted that it is more difficult for those belonging to the SCs and STs to get a higher post in group A category of jobs and time has come when the apex court should give some concrete basis for SCs, STs, and other backward classes to fill up vacancies.

The bench had earlier said it would not reopen its decision on the issue of the grant of reservation in promotion to the SCs and the STs and said it was for the states to decide how they are going to implement the same.