Must go ahead with quota in promotion: Ex-Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

BENGALURU: Providing clarity over reservations in promotions of SC/ST state government employees, former Attorney General of India and Karnataka’s counsel in the Supreme Court Mukul Rohatgi has said that implementing it is the state’s duty.

In a five-page letter to the state government, Rohatgi has clarified that implementation of the bill does not amount to contempt of court. The HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government has been dilly-dallying over the implementation of the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to government servants promoted on the basis of the reservation act, 2017.

Despite both legislative houses passing the bill and the President giving it an assent, the Karnataka government had been delaying implementation citing “legal hurdles”. With his letter, Rohatgi has stated that despite the case being sub-judice, implementation of the bill will not be contempt of court.

“There is no stay by the court upon the operation of the Act. There is no question of contempt whatsoever,” Rohatgi’s letter accessed by TNIE states. In fact, the senior counsel has urged the state government to implement the act immediately. 

“It is the duty of the state government to implement the Will of the Legislative Assembly and ensure the act is implemented,” the letter states. Despite the President’s assent in 2018, the state government is reluctant to implement the bill, thus delaying restoration of promotion to 3,795 SC/ST employees and stalling deemed promotions of about 5,000.