Jarnail Clarifications Day #4

October 21st 2021

On October 21st 2021, a three-judge bench comprising Justices Nageswara Rao, Sanjiv Khanna and B.R. Gavai will hear over 130 petitions regarding the implementation of the Court’s decision in M. Nagaraj v Union of India (2006) for the third day.

In M. Nagaraj (2006), the Court held that State governments had the discretion to provide SC/ST candidates reservations in promotion after fulfilling three conditions: demonstrate that the class is ‘backward’; this class is inadequately represented in the position/service and thirdly, that administrative efficiency must be maintained. In Jarnail Singh v Lacchmi Narain Singh (2018) the first condition was struck down and the second condition was modified to require the government to produce data on under-representation in the specific department.

In these clarification hearings, the petitioners have challenged the reservation in promotion policies in various States for non-compliance with Jarnail Singh – particularly, how States may satisfy the requirements of showing inadequate representation and ensuring administrative efficiency.

In the previous hearings, the Bench directed Attorney General (AG) K.K. Venugopal to submit details of any data collected for reservation in promotions after Nagaraj. The Bench also heard submissions on how the criteria should be understood. For a detailed report of the first hearing click here, for the second hearing click here and for the third hearing click here.

The Court heard arguments from counsel throughout the day. The counsel who argued included Sr. Adv. Sanjoy Ghose.

The matter is listed next for Tuesday, October 26th.