Scheduled caste (SC) employees of Haryana government, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday set aside the state government's reservation policy pertaining to promotion to Class III and IV posts.
The bench headed by Justice Rajesh Bindal has directed the government to revert all SC employees promoted since 2006 on the basis of this policy to their original posts within three months.
The policy issued on March 16, 2006, was set aside by the HC in the Prem Kumar Verma case in August 2012, but the Haryana government had not withdrawn the benefits granted to some of the employees on its basis. HC has also issued notice to the then chief secretary, asking why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him for promoting employees of SC category after 2006 in the state.
"It is evident that the 2013 policy was issued by the then chief secretary despite being in the knowledge of the judgment of the Supreme Court in M Nagaraj's case and this court in Prem Kumar Verma case, I deem it appropriate to initiate proceedings for contempt against him," the HC observed.
The orders have come in the wake of a bunch of petitions filed by Rajbir Singh and others challenging the instructions issued by the Haryana government on February 28, 2013, providing 20% reservation for SC employees in promotion to Class-III and Class-IV posts.
Observing that the 2013 instructions have been issued totally in violation of the Supreme Court judgment, HC ordered that the benefits of accelerated promotion granted to all the members of reserved categories will also have to be reverted.
The bench headed by Justice Rajesh Bindal has directed the government to revert all SC employees promoted since 2006 on the basis of this policy to their original posts within three months.
The policy issued on March 16, 2006, was set aside by the HC in the Prem Kumar Verma case in August 2012, but the Haryana government had not withdrawn the benefits granted to some of the employees on its basis. HC has also issued notice to the then chief secretary, asking why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him for promoting employees of SC category after 2006 in the state.
"It is evident that the 2013 policy was issued by the then chief secretary despite being in the knowledge of the judgment of the Supreme Court in M Nagaraj's case and this court in Prem Kumar Verma case, I deem it appropriate to initiate proceedings for contempt against him," the HC observed.
The orders have come in the wake of a bunch of petitions filed by Rajbir Singh and others challenging the instructions issued by the Haryana government on February 28, 2013, providing 20% reservation for SC employees in promotion to Class-III and Class-IV posts.
Observing that the 2013 instructions have been issued totally in violation of the Supreme Court judgment, HC ordered that the benefits of accelerated promotion granted to all the members of reserved categories will also have to be reverted.
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