December 17, 2015

No benefit of reservation in promotions in the state of J&K High Court Order

The Supreme Court has issued notices to the J&K Government and other respondents in an appeal filed against the recent verdict of the state High Court wherein it had struck down the state government’s policy of reservation in promotions on the basis of which several officials of different departments were promoted since 2005.While asking the respondents to file objections within four weeks, a division bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice SA Bobde in its orders has directed for maintaining status quo in the meanwhile.“Issue notice returnable in four weeks…. Status quo, as of today, be maintained in the meanwhile,” the bench said in its orders passed yesterday in a special leave petition filed by petitioner Mohammad Haneef Lone against the October 2015 verdict.

A Division Bench of the J&K High Court comprising Justice Hasnain Massodi and Justice Janak Raj Kotwal in a 50-page judgment delivered on October 9, 2015, had held that there should be no benefit of reservation in promotions in the state of J&K and struck down the Section 6 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004, and Rules 9, 10 and 34 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005, as ultra vires to the Constitution.While declaring Section 6 of the J&K Reservation Act and Rules 9, 10 and 34 of the Reservation Rules as “invidious and unconstitutional”, the court observed that the reservation in promotions didn’t have constitutional protection in J&K since the clause (4A) that was added to Article 16 through the 77th constitutional Amendment was not applicable to the state.