The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that mere backwardness of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes was enough to grant them reservations in promotions and that there was no need for the government to back their inadequate representation with quantifiable data.
The contention came during a hearing by a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Deepak Misra on a government plea seeking a re-look by a seven-judge constitution bench at a 2006 judgment that barred reservations in promotions.
The top court in 2006 had said, " ... State will have to show in each case the existence of the compelling reasons, namely, backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall administrative efficiency before making provision for reservation" in promotions.
The 2006 judgment is also known as Nagaraj judgment.
Pointing to the social oppression that Scheduled Caste people suffer at the hands of dominant castes, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said: "They are not even allowed to ride horses" during their family functions.
The court directed the listing of the matter on August 16.
--IANS
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