JUDGMENT

P.R. Ramachandra Menon, C.J. - Whether seniority can be conferred to the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe candidates who are given promotion in the reserved slots earlier than the Senior General Category candidates in the feeder cadre, without effecting any legislation or passing any executive orders by the Government as envisaged under Article 16(4A) of the Constitution of India, ignoring the "Catch-up rule" formulated by the Constitution Bench of the Apex Court in Union of India v. Virpal Singh Chauhan, (1995) 6 SCC 684 } and as accepted by the subsequent Constitution Bench in Ajit Singh (II) v. State of Punjab, (1999) 7 SCC 209 } ? Whether it can be done so, without collecting the data as to the inadequacy of representation of such class as mandated by the Constitution Bench of the Apex Court in M. Nagraj v. Union of India, (2006) 8 SCC 212 and as accepted by the subsequent Constitution Bench in Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta & Others, (2018) 10 SCC 396 ? These are the questions to be considered in this writ petition filed by the Central Government and the authorities of the Central Excise/Customs Department, challenging the verdict passed by the Central Administra