NEW DELHI: The Chhattisgarh High Court has dismissed an application of the state Government seeking modification or cancellation of its stay order on reservation in promotions.
The Chhattisgarh Government had on October 22, 2019, issued a notification regarding quota in promotions. It specified 13 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes and 32 per cent for Scheduled Tribes from Class-1 to Class-4 Government employees.
A resident of Raipur filed a PIL challenging this notification. The petition argued that reservation in promotions goes against the Supreme Court’s orders and reservation rules, and demanded that the Government revoke it.
The High Curt imposed a stay on the notification. AdvocateGeneral Satish Chandra Varma on December 2, 2019, admitted to an error in preparing it. The court gave a week’s time to rectify this mistake.
When no action was taken, a Division Bench of then Chief Justice PR Ramchandra Menon and Justice PP Sahu ordered a stay on the notification and directed the Government to formulate rules again within two months as per regulations.
The Government sought a modification or cancellation of the stay so that promotions of reserved category Government employees that had been withheld for four years could move forward.
The intervenors sought modification of the 2019 order, citing the urgency of issuing pending promotion orders as per the, interim order of the Supreme Court of May 1, 2023. They argued that this delay had affected their career advancement.
The high court has listed the case for a final hearing in January 2024, awaiting the outcome of a related special leave petition plea in the Supreme Court.
