CASTE-22 SITUATION FOR KARNATAKA GOVERNMENT
By Niranjan Kaggere, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Updated: Dec 20, 2017, 01.00 AM IST
Prez returns reservation proposal for SC/ST staff lIf state fails to implement SC order, it will face contempt of court
Hoping for a reprieve from the President while trying to circumvent Supreme Court’s decision over ‘consequential promotion’ to SC/ST employees, the state government has got a shock from the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Refusing to be part of the controversy, the President’s Secretariat is likely to send back the file, stating that the issue is ‘state subject’ and only the state government can decide on the vexed issue.
Batting for reservation for SC/ST employees in the run-up to the state polls, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government had tried to circumvent the SC order that had struck down reservations in promotions for SC/ST government employees since 1978 by amending the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (To the posts in Civil Services of the state) Bill-2017.
Passed by both the Houses of the state legislature during its winter session in Belagavi, the bill was sent to Governor Vajubhai Vala for assent. However, Vala had promptly forwarded the bill to the President for his legal opinion. While the state government was trying to delay the implementation of SC order by trying to amend the Act, government workers had resorted to protests to exert pressure on the government to abide by SC order as it would do justice to hundreds of workers in PWD, Energy, Irrigation, Revenue and other major departments.
But on Tuesday morning, the law department received a call from Rashtrapati Bhavan informing that President had no role to play in the issue. “It was communicated to us from the President’s Secretariat that service of state government employees is entirely a state subject and the President has no role to play in it. The state government has to exercise its power and decide accordingly. The file is likely to be returned to the government in a day or two with that remark. Hence, we have no option but to implement the order of the SC,” a top law department official told Bangalore Mirror.
Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha was directed by the state government on Tuesday morning to hold an emergency meeting with the Secretary, DPAR Anil Kumar Jha and publish the seniority list with respect to 34 departments.
“Though the CS had stated that 90 per cent departments have already through with the preparation of seniority list, we have told them to go ahead with the SC order and implement it by January 15. The High Court of Karnataka has already implemented the order,” sources in the state government told Bangalore Mirror.
If the state fails to implement the SC order by January 15, it has to face contempt proceedings of the apex court. However, implementation of SC order would also make state government face the wrath of SC/ST employees as it would dislodge them from top positions to entry level posts in several departments.
