The Supreme Court has held that reservation rules will not apply to upgraded posts in a service which entail only a higher pay scale and no promotion. Where the process is an upgrade simpliciter, there is no need to apply the rules of reservation. The candidate continues to hold the same post without any change in duties and responsibilities and merely gets a higher pay scale, said a Bench of Justices R.V. Raveendran and Markandey Katju.
The Bench said: “Where there is a restructuring of some cadres resulting in creation of additional posts and filling of those vacancies by those who satisfy the conditions of eligibility, which include a minimum period of service, will attract the rules of reservation. On the other hand, where restructuring of posts does not involve creation of additional posts but merely results in some of the existing posts being placed in a higher grade to provide relief against stagnation, the said process does not invite reservation.”
The Bench said: “Generally, upgrade relates to and applies to all positions in a category [for those] who have completed a minimum period of service. Upgrade can also be restricted to a percentage of posts in a cadre with reference to seniority (instead of being made available to all employees in the category) and it will still be an upgrade simpliciter. But if there is a process of selection or consideration of comparative merit or suitability for granting the upgrade or benefit of advancement to a higher pay scale, it will be a promotion.”
The Bench said “Promotion is an advancement in rank or grade or both and is a step towards advancement to a higher position, grade or honour and dignity. Though in the traditional sense promotion refers to advancement to a higher post, in its wider sense, promotion may include an advancement to a higher pay scale without [the holder] moving to a different post. But the mere fact that both — advancement to a higher position and advancement to a higher pay scale — are described by the common term ‘promotion' does not mean that they are the same.”
BSNL appeal allowed
In the instant case, the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was aggrieved over the orders passed by the Madras Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal and affirmed by the Madras High Court that reservation would apply to upgraded posts in BSNL under the Biennial Cadre Review (BCR) scheme.
Allowing the appeal and setting aside the various orders, the Bench said BCR was an upgrade scheme to give relief against stagnation. It did not involve creation of any new post or advancement to a higher post or any process of selection for conferment of the higher pay scale. “Such a scheme of upgrade did not involve rules of reservation.”
