The Supreme Court today said its 2006 verdict putting conditions for granting benefits of quotas in job promotions for SC/ST employees need not be referred to a seven-judge bench.
The apex court also turned down the Centre’s plea that overall population of SC/ST be considered for granting quota for them.
The unanimous judgement was pronounced by a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
The court said, states need not collect quantifiable data on the backwardness of SC/ST for giving quota in job promotion to SC/ST employees.
The court’s verdict came on petitions seeking that a seven-judge bench reconsiders the court’s 2006 judgement which had put conditions for granting quota benefits in job promotions for SC/ST employees.
The Centre has alleged that the verdict in the M Nagraj case 2006 had put unnecessary conditions in granting quota benefits to the SC and ST employees and sought its reconsideration by a larger bench.
Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, had strongly argued in favour of granting quota to SC and ST employees, saying there was a presumption of backwardness in their favour.
He had said the SC and ST communities have been facing caste-based discrimination for long and the stigma of caste is attached to them despite the fact that some of them have come up.
