“Antithetical To Concept Of Equality": J&K High Court Halts Promotions Without Consideration Of Candidates' SC/ST Reservation

Delivering a major relief to reserved category employees who have long been denied their rightful promotions due to a controversial government circular Justice M.A Chowdhary observed,

“The respondents are restrained from making any promotions unless candidates belonging to the SC/ST reserved categories entitled for consideration for reservation in promotions are considered”

The directions came in a case filed by Mohammad Jamal Sheikh and King Kumar, representing engineers from the J&K Power Transmission Corporation Limited, Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited, and Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited, belonging to reserved categories such as SC, ST, Residents of Backward Area (RBA), Actual Line of Control (ALC), and Other Social Castes (OSC).

The petition challenged a circular issued by the General Administration Department, which directed all administrative secretaries to keep slots meant for reserved employees vacant. The petitioners contended that this directive was in violation of Article 16(4A) of the Constitution of India and the J&K Reservation Act, 2004, which mandate reservation in promotions.

Advocate Areeb Javed Kawoosa, representing the petitioners, argued that the government had failed to implement reservation in promotions for over a decade, despite statutory provisions mandating it. He relied on the Supreme Court's stay order in Nasib Singh & Ors vs. State of J&K & Ors, which had put on hold a 2015 Division Bench ruling of the High Court that struck down reservation in promotions.

Kawoosa further highlighted that the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Jammu Bench, had already quashed the impugned circular in the case of Satish Chander vs. UT of J&K & Ors on December 17, 2024. He argued that, with the Supreme Court stay in place and the constitutional position clear post-2019 (when Article 16(4A) was made applicable to J&K), the government was legally obligated to implement reservation in promotions.

On the other hand, Government Advocate Furkan Yaqub, representing the administration, justified the impugned circular on the ground that the Ashok Kumar judgment of 2015 had declared reservation in promotions unconstitutional in J&K. He maintained that since the matter was still pending before the Supreme Court, the government could not proceed with reservations in promotions.

After examining the legal and constitutional framework, the court noted that prior to 2019, the 77th Constitutional Amendment (which introduced Article 16(4A) providing for reservation in promotions) was not extended to J&K, however, post August 5, 2019, the entire Constitution of India, including Article 16(4A), is fully applicable to J&K.

“In view of the application of the whole of the Constitution of India including the relevant provision of Clause (4A) of Article 16 in the year 2019, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir is under a legal obligation to provide reservation in promotions in accordance with the provisions made in the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 and Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005”, the court remarked.

Furthermore, the court pointed out that the UT administration had itself argued before the Supreme Court that reservation in promotions is now applicable to J&K and that the Ashok Kumar judgment should be set aside. Despite this, the General Administration Department (GAD) issued Circular No. 10-JK (GAD) of 2021, contradicting its own stand before the Apex Court, the court underscored.

Observing that denial of reservation in promotions violates constitutional mandates the court held that denying promotions to SC/ST employees while granting them elsewhere in India is class legislation, violating Article 14 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney (1993), M. Nagaraj (2007), and Jarnail Singh (2022) has consistently upheld that states must collect quantifiable data to determine inadequacy of representation before granting or denying reservation in promotions, the bench emphasised.

Spotlighting Government's failure to collect quantifiable data the court noted that despite the J&K Reservation Act, 2004, and Reservation Rules, 2005, which provide 8% reservation for SCs and 10% for STs in promotions, the government failed to collect data to assess their representation.

Frowning over the stand of the Government despite the massive overhaul in 2019 Justice Chowdhary added,

“it is strange that after making application of whole of the Constitution of India lock, stock and barrel to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2019, the impugned Circular was issued by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2022 whereby all the Administrative Departments were advised not to fill up the slots meant for the reserved categories in promotion”

In light of these observations the court directed the respondents to collect quantifiable data at the cadre level within six weeks to determine SC/ST representation in promotions. If such data is not collected, the government must proceed with promotions in accordance with the J&K Reservation Act, 2004, and Reservation Rules, 2005, the court said while restraining it from making any promotions unless SC/ST candidates entitled to reservation are considered.

APPEARANCE:

Mr. Areeb Javed Kawoosa, Advocate For Petitioners. Mr. Furkan Yaqub, GA for the UT of J&K

Case Title: Mohammad Jamal Sheikh Vs UT Of J&K

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (JKL)

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