In less than a year’s time, the State bureaucracy will see another round of churning, with the Supreme Court on Friday upholding Karnataka’s consequential seniority Act. This has cleared the decks for restoring the original level of seniority held by government employees belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities who had been demoted in 2018.
The decades-old legal battle over reservation in promotion came to an end with the apex court, which had rejected an earlier Act on the matter, upholding the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (To the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act, 2017.
Around 3,800 SC/ST employees had been demoted and about 5,000 general category employees promoted following a February 2017 Supreme Court order. Friday’s order will reverse a majority of these demotions and promotions. The earlier ruling had also impacted about 60,000 SC/ST employees indirectly as they lost their seniority. A significant number of general category employees could face demotions (back to the cadres they held prior to promotion), unless the government decides to rehabilitate them through measures such as creation of supernumerary posts outside the Act, sources said.
“The judgment shows that the Constitution is strong. There was misrepresentation in this case and misplaced fears had been floated,” said D. Chandrashekaraiah, legal adviser to the SC/ST Government Employees’ Coordination Committee. “We will not ask for demotion of those who have been promoted. Whatever happens will be as per the judgment of the court.”
When asked if they would wait for the model code of conduct to end on May 27 before seeking changes, he said, “We do not believe the poll code will come in the way. The Election Commission had said that court orders could be implemented. Now, the government or officials will not have any alibi to postpone implementation.”
Few options
General category employees are left with little room to manoeuvre with this order. For those who were promoted last year, following the notification of a fresh seniority list in line with the earlier Supreme Court order, Friday’s order came as a jolt. Most will now be returning to the lower cadres.
“It is a long legal battle of 25 years that we fought and lost. A fresh legal battle has to be fought. We have to approach the same Bench in some form or the other and explore the possibility of seeking a review or clarification,” said a senior office-bearer of a general category employees’ association which fought the case in the Supreme Court.
He, however, said their options remain closed till July 1 as the court will be on vacation till then.
While Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar was not available for his comments on the government’s next move, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy welcomed the court’s decision and promised to protect the interests of all employees within the constitutional framework. “The State government’s intention of inclusiveness has been reiterated by this judgment,” he said.
What is consequential seniority?
Consequential seniority is seniority given to employees from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities in government jobs as a consequence of reservation. It provides reservation in the first promotion as well as subsequent ones. This is not the case for general category employees.