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Quotas apply only at entry level, says Supreme Court

The reservation quota can be applicable to people entering government service and will not apply at the time of promotion, the Supreme Court ruled.

The ruling was given by a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice A S Anand, while disposing of interlocutory applications in three civil appeals, seeking clarification of the court's earlier judgement concerning disputes relating to seniority of the reserved and general candidates.

The other judges on the bench were Justice K Venkataswami, Justice G B Pattanaik, Justice S P Kurdukar and Justice M J Rao.

"Constitutional provisions do not confer any fundamental rights nor do they impose any duty but are only in the nature of enabling provisions vesting a discretion in the state to consider providing reservation, if the circumstances so warranted," the judges observed. The judges further said that the roster point promotees (reserved category) could not count their seniority in the promoted category from "the date of their continuous officiation in the promoted post vis-à-vis the general category candidates who were senior to them in the lower category and who were later promoted.

"On the other hand, a senior general category candidate at the lower level, if he reaches the promotional level later but before the further promotion of the reserved candidate, will have to be treated a senior, at the promotional level, even if the reserved candidates was earlier promoted to that level," the judgement stated.

The judges said that in the matter of due representation in service for backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, maintenance of efficiency of administration was of paramount importance.

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