Job promotion quota bill in RS today

The union cabinet approved a constitutional amendment bill on Tuesday to provide reservations for Scheduled Castes  [SCs] and Scheduled Tribes  [STs] in government job promotions. It immediately created a political divide, with the Bharatiya Janata Party  [BJP] providing conditional support, the Bahujan Samaj Party  [BSP] welcoming the move and the Samajwadi Party opposing it.

The decision on reservations had been taken at an all-party meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on 21 August.

The BSP had raised the issue in Parliament after the Supreme Court in April overruled the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to provide reservations in government job promotions. The BSP, which had provided the reservation when it was in the government, then demanded a constitutional amendment to provide for such quotas.

The proposed bill seeks to amend at least four articles of the constitution to enable the government to provide quota in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The bill will be tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. Parliament's monsoon session concludes on Friday.

The BSP expectedly welcomed the measure and appealed to the BJP, which has stalled Parliament for 10 days over the allocation of coal blocks, to let the house function so that the bill could be passed. 'I will appeal to the NDA, specially BJP.... I request them to pass this bill, as it has already been discussed in the all-party meeting, and needs no more debate in Parliament,' The BSP chief Mayawati said. 

However, the BJP offered conditional support. 'We are supporting the bill. But some members have some reservations. We will discuss it and suggest some amendments,' the BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

The Samajwadi Party, however, said it would not allow the bill to be passed. It likened its fate to that of the women's reservation bill that has been pending in the Lok Sabha since March 2010 after being passed by the Rajya Sabha. 'We are against the bill. It is unconstitutional,' the Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said, adding: 'The Supreme Court has quashed it. Still the government wants to bring the bill because it is politically motivated.'