More than seven months after the Supreme Court upheld the Consequential Seniority Act that provides for reservation in promotions for employees from Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, 22 government departments are yet to publish their seniority lists. The departments have now been given a week’s time to complete the process.
Following the court order, the government twice issued orders to the department heads to initiate the process of drawing up seniority lists and publishing them, in line with the 2017 Act. However, during a recent meeting of the legislature committee on welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, it was revealed that 22 departments had not published the seniority lists yet.
In a letter to the heads of these 22 departments on January 31, P. Hemalatha, Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), has asked the departments to complete the process within a week. She has drawn their attention to the Supreme Court order as well as previous orders to finalise the seniority list, and said that the government was viewing this delay seriously. The letter also cites the meeting of the legislature committee, where its members expressed serious concern and displeasure over the delay in implementing the earlier orders.
“The seniority lists in 22 departments have not been drawn up as it is seen as against the interests of the General category employees. Departments have not adhered to the earlier direction of the Chief Secretary, who had asked that the list be finalised within a month,” said D. Chandrashekaraiah, legal advisor to the the Karnataka State Government SC/ST Employees Coordination Committee. He said that responsibility had to be fixed on the erring officials.
While 3,799 SC and ST officials were demoted after the court direction in the B.K. Pavithra case, 5,002 General category employees had been promoted. According to Mr. Chandrashekaraiah, barring 22 officials, all those who were demoted have been restored to their earlier cadre. He, however, said that barring a few General category officials, most officials remain in the promoted cadre, and a fresh seniority list was important to set right the imbalance.
Order on pension
In another circular, the government has said that the pension of those who retired after being demoted owing to an earlier Supreme Court order, had to be fixed for the cadre that the officials held before demotion. According to the committee, about 650 SC and ST officials and employees retired from service after they were demoted as per the court order. According to the earlier government order, the pension would be fixed according to the cadre in which the official retired.
