The Supreme Court on Friday, 28 January, ruled that it cannot lay down a yardstick to determine the adequacy of Schedule Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST) representation in government job promotions, directing the states to collect quantifiable data in the matter.
The SC bench of Justices Nageswara Rao, Sanjiv Khanna, and B R Gavai stated:
"We have held we cannot lay down any yardstick to determine inadequacy of representation. State is obligated to collect quantifiable data regarding SC/ST representation. We have left it to state to assess yardstick to determine inadequacy of representation of SC/ST."Supreme Court bench, as per Bar and Bench
Further, the court observed that unit of collection for collecting data pertaining to promotional posts should be 'cadre' and not the entire services.
“Cadre, which should be the unit for collection of quantifiable data in relation to promotional posts, would be meaningless if data pertaining to the representation of SC/STs is with reference to the entire service,” the court held.
The apex court went on to assert that apart from data collection, the assessment of inadequacy of representation should be taken up following a periodic review.
The time period for the review should be reasonable and is up to the states to decide, Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying.
Previously, the Union government had apprised the court that it is a 'fact of life' that SC and ST communities had not been brought to the same level of merit as other classes, The Indian Express reported.
(With inputs from Bar and Bench.)
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