JUDGMENT :

A.K. SIKRI, J.

By our judgment dated January 09, 2015, we had decided batch of appeals which were preferred by the Union of India as well as certain banks. In these appeals, the validity of the judgment of the High Court of Madras was questioned which held that in the matter of promotions in the officer grades, there shall be reservation provided for the officers belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories working in these banks. This decision of the High Court was predicated on the interpretation to the provisions of Office Memorandum (OM) dated August 13, 1997 issued by the Central Government, along with certain other connected Office Memoranda. It was concluded by the High Court that the aforesaid OM dated August 13, 1997 provides for such a reservation in favour of the SC/ST employees. The plea of the appellant banks was that the said OM does not make any provisions for reservation in respect of SC/ST employees.

2) The question, therefore, that needed determination by this Court was as to whether there is any reservation in the promotions from one officer grade/scale to higher grade/scale, when such promotions are to be made on selection b