Constitution Amendment Bill passed by Huge Majority in Rajya Sabha

The Constitution Amendment Bill that provides quotas for SCs and STs in Government Job Promotions was approved in Rajya Sabha on 17 December 2012 by an overwhelming majority.

The new amendment demands retaining of Article 335 and deletes the words or in the article to make sure that condition of efficiency as mentioned in the Article continues to be the part of Indian Constitution and not wiped out. The bill would also ensure that the provision of the Article 335 and its effects are retained and allows related standards for promotion against reserved vacancies to candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes.

The reservation in Promotion had been in existence for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes since 1955 but has suffered attacks in different cases by the decisions of Supreme Court of India in cases like Indra Sawhney, Veer Pal Singh Chauhan and S. Vinod Kumar. The Indian Government has passed several amendments namely 77th, 81st, 82nd and 85th amendments to overcome these effects.

The Judgment of the Supreme Court in case of M Nagaraj mentioned few of the pre-requisite conditions to provide reservation in promotion and the laid condition was assessing the quantum of representation of SCs, STs and their backwardness along with the effect on the efficiency. The bill would be forwarded to the Lok Sabha for further consideration and passing on 19 December 2012.

Article 335  

It claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to services and posts.

Part XVI of the article states Special Provisions Relating to Certain Classes

The article claims that the members of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes should be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of the administration while making appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the union or the state. The 289B segment provided in the article prevents making on any provision to favour the members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes by relaxing the qualifying marks in the examination, or the standards of evaluation for reservation in promotion matters of any class of services and classes and posts connected to the affairs of state or of the union.