JUDGMENT

B. P. JEEVAN REDDY, J.:—The precise nature and character of the concession provided to Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the matter of promotions within Class-I in the service of the public section banks falls for consideration in this batch of writ petitions. The writ petitions are filed by Associations of Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes employees working in several public sector banks. The reliefs sought for in all these writ petitions are broadly, identical. For the sake of conveninece, we may refer to the reliefs sought for in Writ Petition (C)No. 896 of 1990 filed by the National Federation of State Bank of India Schedule Casts/Scheduled Tribes employees. They are (a) to issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondent (State Bank of India) to implement the reservation policy by maintaining the roster system; (b) to direct the respondents (Union of India, State Bank of India and the Chairman of the Indian Banks Association) to fill up the backlog of unfilled vacancies since 1978 by applying the carry-forward rule in all grades and scales with consequential benefits; (c) to restrain the second respondent (State Bank of India) from making any promotion from