New Delhi: At the heart of India’s bureaucracy, among the officers who form the “backbone” of the Union government’s staff in Delhi, two factions are locked in a struggle over the issue of caste-based reservation in promotions.
This aspect of reservation has been controversial, and has been taken up in the Supreme Court several times.
With litigation on the matter dragging on, promotions in the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) have been delayed for six years now — prompting more than 1,000 members of this service to protest outside North Block Friday afternoon.
6️⃣Yrs5️⃣M &1⃣6⃣Days since Regular &
2⃣9⃣9⃣Days Denial of even Adhoc Promotion
2⃣9⃣Days since Judgement Pronounced by SC@DoPTGoI @PMOIndia pls restart Promotions immediately.
WorkingWith #Demotivation
RetiringIn #Frustration#SaveCSS
VC: @CSSforum_ pic.twitter.com/gvRNcLtp6h— ??? ????????? (@CSS_officers) February 26, 2022
The CSS, formed in 1946, provides permanent bureaucracy and functionary staff in Union government ministries, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Central Secretariat and other government offices.
The protesting officers claimed that several people had retired from service without getting their last promotions due to the ongoing court case.
While these officers said that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is yet to restart regular promotions in the CSS, an official with the department told ThePrint that the matter is being fast-tracked.
The official, requesting anonymity, said, “Our minister of state, Dr Jitendra Singh, met with a delegation of CSS officers in February and assured them of timely grievance redressal. He also spoke to the attorney general to fast-track the matter in the Supreme Court.”
ThePrint explains the issue and why it’s still under litigation.
Internal conflict over reservation in promotions
According to officials, the issue was raised by members of the CSS cadre, who argued that officers from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ ST) should be given reservation in promotion.
An official in the CSS explained the departmental conflict, saying,“There are two groups of officers between whom the fight for reservation is ongoing. One group says that the Constitution gives states the right to give reservation in promotion.”
Parliament added Clause (4a) to Article 16 of the Constitution in 1995, allowing states to provide reservation in promotions for SC/ STs.
“A subsequent issue that came up from this was that officers from the SC/ ST category who were initially selected for the CSS on merit would be promoted under this provision of reservation. This would lead to great imbalance in reservation representation percentages,” added the official.
Another official said, “The other group of officers, who are against this reservation, claim that even the unreserved seats are now being given to SC/ ST officers. We call this ‘queue jumping’, since the seats were not originally meant for them.”
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In the courts
A writ petition on the matter was filed in the Supreme Court in 2002, and the judgment was pronounced in 2006. In this case, M Nagaraj Vs. Union of India, the court had held that a state is “not bound to make reservation for SC/ ST in matters of promotions”.
However, if a state does wish to exercise its discretion and make any such provision, the judgment says it has to “collect quantifiable data showing backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation in public employment”.
Since the judgment in Nagaraj, many states have found it difficult to satisfy the conditions laid down. Various high courts have struck down policies providing reservation in promotions. These cases then came to the Supreme Court on appeal.
In another case, the Supreme Court called for data on officers in government services to determine reservation. The lack of such data has led to the case being extended over several years.
On 28 January 2022, the apex court stated that since the data of such a large body of officers was difficult to collect, their cadre strength — in relation to the grade or category of posts for which promotion is sought — would be the basis for collecting data.
The court had fixed 24 February to take up individual matters that would now be decided on the basis of the judgment pronounced in January. However, it has not been decided when these individual cases will be heard, leading to the protest by CSS officers.
Promotions paused, positions vacant, say officers
With promotions in the CSS having been paused due to the ongoing litigation process, officers claim that several senior positions are now vacant, as no officers are able to move ahead.
According to the CSS Forum, an association of government officials, there are 6,210 officers currently in the rank of section officer, undersecretary, deputy secretary, director, and joint secretary, while 1,839 positions are lying vacant.
Manmohan Verma, an officer with the CSS and general secretary of the CSS Forum, said, “ “For the past six years, we have not been given regular promotions. Since many of us have got only ad-hoc promotions, we hold substantively lower posts in our service. Due to this, we are also not able to get other benefits of regular service.”
“This has not only stunted our growth, but has prevented officers from moving ahead in the hierarchy, leading to a vacuum in senior positions,” he said, adding that government machinery is also suffering badly due to the “mismanagement” of the CSS cadre.
These vacancies are in addition to an acute shortage of All India Services (AIS) officers — IAS, IPS, and IFS — at the Centre.
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