Reservations for SCs and the STs is not against the principle of meritocracy: SC

NEW DELHI: Holding that merit must not seen in a narrow perspective as one‘s performance in an exam but be considered in larger view of achieving societal goal to bring equality among marginalised section of society, the Supreme Court on Friday said that providing of reservations for SCs and the STs is not at odds with the principle of meritocracy.
While upholding constitutional validity of Karnataka law to provide reservation in promotion to SCs/STs government employee, a bench of Justices U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud said, “Once we understand merit as instrumental in achieving goods that we as a society value, we see that the equation of merit with performance at a few narrowly defined criteria is incomplete. A meritocratic system is one that rewards actions that result in the outcomes that we as a society value.”
“Thus, providing of reservations for SCs and the STs is not at odds with the principle of meritocracy. Merit must not be limited to narrow and inflexible criteria such as one‘s rank in a standardised exam, but rather must flow from the actions a society seeks to reward, including the promotion of equality in society and diversity in public administration,” Justice Chandrachud, who wrote the judgement, said.
The bench said that the present system of attaching merit with performance in examination is wrong and that perception should change. It said that a meritorious? candidate is not merely one who is talented or successful but also one whose appointment fulfils the constitutional goals of uplifting members of the SCs and STs and ensuring a diverse and representative administration.
Referring to provision of Article 355 of the constitution, the court said it emphasizes that the need to maintain the efficiency of administration cannot be construed as a fetter on adopting these special measures designed to uplift and protect the welfare of the SCs and STs
“If the government‘s sole consideration in appointments was to appoint individuals who were considered talented or successful? in standardised examinations, by virtue of the inequality in access to resources and previous educational training (existing inequalities in society), the stated constitutional goal of uplifting these sections of society and having a diverse administration would be undermined. Thus, a meritorious candidate is not merely one who is talented or successful but also one whose appointment fulfils the constitutional goals of uplifting members of the SCs and STs and ensuring a diverse and representative administration,” the bench said.
“The benchmark for the efficiency of administration is not some disembodied, abstract ideal measured by the performance of a qualified open category candidate. Efficiency of administration in the affairs of the Union or of a State must be defined in an inclusive sense, where diverse segments of society find representation as a true aspiration of governance by and for the people. If, as we hold, the Constitution mandates realisation of substantive equality in the engagement of the fundamental rights with the directive principles, inclusion together with the recognition of the plurality and diversity of the nation constitutes a valid constitutional basis for defining efficiency,” it said.
It is for the first time that the apex court upheld the law on promotion in reservation after SC allowed reservation in promotion for SC/ST govt employees in 2006. Many other stated have also framed law but it failed to pass judicial test as it did not fulfil the criteria set by it in 2006 like conducting survey on their representation department wise.
Holding that it is necessary to liberate the concept of efficiency from a one sided approach which ignores the need for and the positive effects of the inclusion of diverse segments of society on the efficiency of administration, the bench said “Our benchmarks will define our outcomes. If this benchmark of efficiency is grounded in exclusion, it will produce a pattern of governance which is skewed against the marginalised. If this benchmark of efficiency is grounded in equal access, our outcomes will reflect the commitment of the Constitution to produce a just social order. Otherwise, our past will haunt the inability of our society to move away from being deeply unequal to one which is founded on liberty and fraternity.”.