In an important verdict on reservation, the Supreme Court has held that once the quota benefit was given to the backward classes in the appointment, it could not be extended in promotion unless the government has collected viable data to show that reserved categories were “inappropriately” represented in the public services.
Explaining the provisions of Articles 16(4A) and 16(4B) inserted in the Constitution in 1995 and 2000 to enable the Centre and states to frame laws for expanding the benefit of reservations to a larger sections of the backward classes in the public employment, a bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari, elected to International Court of Justice on Friday and Justice Dipak Misra ruled that extending of the benefit of reservation in promotion without collecting quantifiable data would be “arbitrary”.
“Vesting of the power by an enabling provision may be constitutionally valid and yet ‘exercise of power’ by the government in a given case may be ‘arbitrary’, particularly, if the government fails to identify and measure the backwardness and inadequacy keeping in mind the efficiency of service required under Article 335 of the Constitution,” said the judgment pronounced by Justice Dipak Misra in the absence of Justice Bhandari, who was out of the country to contest the International Court of Justice election.
The Supreme Court said apart from ensuring the efficiency of service, a proper balance has to be maintained between the provisions of Article 16(4), which extends the benefit of reservation to backward classes and Article 16(1), which protects the interests of every citizen.
“They should be harmonised because they are restatements of the principle of equality under Article 14,” the Supreme Court said while passing its judgment.