No provision at present mandating the banks to provide for reservation in promotions for posts of Scale VII and above

Supreme Court: While deciding the issue of rule of reservation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for promotion to the posts of officer scale when such promotions are being made on selection basis, the Court held that at present, there is no provision for reservation in promotions by selection for posts from Scale VII and above but at the same time, the Court also directed that there will be reservation in favour of the SCs/STs for promotions for posts from Scale I to VI.

The present dispute centers around the Office Memorandum (OM) issued by the Central Government in 13.08.1997 based on which the appellant banks and the union representing SC/ST employees argued upon a reservation policy existing to felicitate the promotions of SC/ST employees to higher posts. The appellant banks put forth that there is no specific mandate to provide reservation in promotions. The Division Bench of Madras High Court had then interpreted the OM to hold that the mandate of the memorandum was to provide for reservation. In the appeal before this Court, the appellants were represented by C.S. Vaidyanathan and respondents were represented by K.S. Chauhan.

The Court while deciding the present case, discussed at length the important case laws dealing with the issue of reservation. The Court observed that there is no dispute about the constitutional position envisaged in Articles 15 and 16, insofar as these provisions empower the State to take affirmative action in favour of SC/ST category persons by making reservations for them in the employment in the Union or the State but it should also be kept in mind that Clauses 4 and 4A of Article 16 of the Constitution are only the enabling provisions which permit the State to make provision for reservation. The Court further observed that the power with the State lies to make provision for reservation if the State feels that SC/STs are not adequately represented on the services under the State but the Court cannot issue Mandamus to a State to compulsorily make such provision as it depends upon the given situation. The Court also observed that the Memorandum of 1997 did not make new provision for reservation in promotions and set aside the judgment of the Madras High Court stating the contrary.Chairman & Managing Director, Central Bank of India v. Central Bank of India SC/ST Employees Welfare Association, 2015 SCC OnLine SC 16, decided on 09.01.2015