BK Pavitra & others v.​​ Union of India​​ 2019 | Current Affairs & General Knowledge - CLAT PDF Download

Citation: B.K. Pavitra Vs Union of India, (2019) 16 SCC 129
Date of Judgement: 10/05/2019
Equivalent Citations: 2019 SCC Online SC 694
Case No.: Civil Appeal No. 2368 of 2011
Case Type: Civil Appeal
Petitioner: B.K. Pavitra and Ors.
Respondent: The Union of India and Ors.
Bench: Hon’ble Justice Uday U. Lalit, Hon’ble Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.
Court: Supreme Court of India

Facts

• Karnataka Determination of Seniority of the Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (to the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act, 2002 provided for grant of consequential seniority to the government servants belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes promoted under reservation policy.
• The petitioners filed a case questioning the constitutionality of the said act.
• The case reached the Supreme Court before a two Judge bench consisting of justices Uday U. Lalit and A.K. Goel.
• The court ruled in favour of the petitioners stating lack of quantifiable data to back the assertion of the state for the need of reservation in promotions in public services with consequential seniority while creamy layer concept was applied
• The state of Karnataka enacted a new legislation, the Reservation Act, 2018 on the basis of the report provided by the Ratna Prabha Committee.
• The petitioner filed another petition once again questioning the legality of the new statute.

Issues Involved

• Is the Reservation Act, 2018 compliant with the principles enunciated in the Constitution Bench decisions in M. Nagaraj Vs Union of India, (2006) 8 SCC 212: (2007) 1 SCC (L&S) 1013 and Jarnail Singh Vs LachhmiNarain Gupta, (2018) 10 SCC 396 : (2019) 1 SCC (L&S) 86? Does the Report of the Ratna Prabha Committee dated 5-5-2017 constituted an adequate and appropriate basis to support the validity of the Act and its implementation?
• Does the Reservation Act, 2018 apply in the present writ petitions (instituted by B.K. Pavitra and Shivakumar) to those departments where there is over-representation or in public corporations not covered by the Ratna Prabha Report or the legislation?

Judgement

• The Honorable Supreme Court gave the verdict that the state did not alter the basis of decision of B.K. Pavitra.
• The court ruled that the enactment was compliant with the principles enunciated in the Constitution Bench decisions in Nagaraj.
• The court ruled that the enactment was compliant with the principles enunciated in the Constitution Bench decisions in Jarnail where it was established that the creamy layer concept was applicable on OBCs but was exclusive of SCs and STs and in the current case the reservations were for SCs and STs and were non-inclusive of OBCs.
• The court held that the reservation in promotion in favour of SCs and STs has been provided until the representation for these categories reaches 15% and 3%, respectively and that the above Government Order is applicable to departments with over-representation of SCs and STs and the departments not in the RPC report were also considered under the ambit of the act since the departments not covered fall under the administrative control of one or the other departments that the report covered.

Conclusion

• The Scheduled castes and tribes and other backward classes of society have been persecuted for many centuries and never had a chance of any growth and very subjected to daily contempt and persecution. Post-independence it is the duty of the people and the state to help everyone get an equal footing and follow the path of equality but unfortunately, the society is far from equal and to help everyone to get to an equal level as others, comes into play the doctrine of equity where positive discrimination based on justified reasoning helps raise the under-privileged to live equally with any other member of the society.
• Thus our forefathers introduced the concept of reservation and so was it upheld in the concerned case and also maintained that the spirit of reservation is to support the ones in need and therefore allowed for reservation in the state while also upholding the applicability of creamy layer on OBC’s so that only the needy in them get the support and so that our country can one day be a heaven of real equality for everyone.