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1997 Supreme(Mad) 821
High Court of Judicature at Madras
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AR. LAKSIMANAN
General Insurance Corporation Limited and Others - Appellant
Versus
All India Insurance Sc/St Employees Action Committee - Respondents
W.A. No. 830/1996, W.P. No. 8166/1996 & C.M.P. No. 12337/1996
Decided On : 11 August 1997
The 77th Amendment to the Constitution, by inserting Art. 16 (4A), enables the State to make provision for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of posts in the service of the State in favour of SC/ST, which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.
Headnote:
RESERVATION POLICY - PROMOTION - CLASS-I CATEGORY - SC/ST EMPLOYEES - INSURANCE COMPANIES - CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, ART. 16 (4A) - WRIT PETITION - MAINTAINABILITY - INTERIM ORDER - WRIT APPEAL.
Fact of the Case:
The All India Insurance SC/ST Employees' Action Committee, a registered body under the Societies Act, filed a writ petition seeking a mandamus to direct the respondents, General Insurance Corporation of India and four others, to implement the Reservation Policy in promotions in Class-I category for SC and ST Officers in the respondents Insurance companies in accordance to the Art. 16 (4A) of the Constitution of India.
Finding of the Court:
1. The writ petition is not maintainable in law as there is no reservation policy for promotion to Class I officers for SC/ST as alleged in the writ petition. 2. In the absence of any proof as to the respondent companies/corporations having failed to adhere to any existing rules or guidelines, such a prayer cannot be maintained. 3. No direction to the respondent companies/ Corporations, to comply with the policy or guideline which is not in existence can be issued in the present writ petition.
Issues: 1. Whether any direction to the respondent companies/ Corporations, to comply with the policy or guideline which is not in existence can be issued in the present writ petition ? 2. In the absence of any proof as to the respondent companies/corporations having failed to adhere to any existing rules or guidelines, whether such a prayer can be maintained ? 3. Whether the writ petition is maintainable in law ?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The 77th Amendment to the Constitution, by inserting Art. 16 (4A), enables the State to make provision for reservation in matters of promotion to any class or classes of posts in the service of the State in favour of SC/ST, which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State. 2. The State has to be subjectively satisfied on objective materials that SC/ST are not adequately represented in officers category in insurance companies. Thereafter, the State has to instruct the respondents to follow reservation policy for SC/ST in Class-I category. 3. The writ petition is not maintainable as there is no reservation policy for promotion to Class I officers for SC/ST as alleged in the writ petition and there is no proof as to the respondent companies/corporations having failed to adhere to any existing rules or guidelines.
Final Decision: The writ petition is dismissed as not maintainable. The interim order passed by the learned single Judge in WMP. No. 11626/96 is vacated.
W.A. No. 830/1996, W.P. No. 8166/1996 & C.M.P. No. 12337/1996
AR. LAKSIMANAN, J.
All India Insurance SC/ST Employees' Action Committee which is a registered body under the Societies Act, is the petitioner in the writ ptition and respondent in the writ appeal. The Writ petition was filed for a mandamus direct ing the respondents/the General Insurance Corporation of India, Bombay and four others, implement the Reservation Policy in promtions in Class-I category for SC and ST Officers t in the respondents Insurance companies in accordance to the Art. 16 (4A) of the Constitution c of India.
2. The above prayer was amended by an order of this Court dated August 8, 1997 in t W.M.P. No. 19252/96 as follows :
"Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ order or Direction in the nature of a Writ, directing the respondents to reserve the post for SCIST employees in Class-I category in the Respondents 2 to 5 insurance companies in accordance to Official Memoranclums issued by the Government of India, dated December 23, 1974, February 25, 1976, September 21, 1988, April 25, 1989, February 8, 1990, June 27, 1990, August 19, 1993 and July 27, 1995 and direct the Respondents to discharge the public duty enshrined in Article 46 of the Constitution of India and pass such further or other orders...
3. The parties to this action will be referred to a petitioners and respondents with reference to their rank in the writ petition. The case of the petitioners in short are as follows : The SC/ST employees in the respondent companies are entitled to get 22 % as reservation tor promotion (18 % for SC and 4 % for ST). According to the petitioners, the respondent insurance corporations in spite of their repeated requests deliberately ignoring the directions and instructions and also the requests and thereby causing hardship and inconvenience to the employees. It is also alleged that the respondent corporations though used to declare the vacancies and specify the number of posts reserved for the SC/ST against the total declared promotional vacancies, have now not declared the promotional vacancies etc., even after the constitutional 77th Amendment by which the reservation in the natter of promotion to any class or classes of post in the service in favour of the SC/ST were ntroduced. BY their letter dated November 14, 1995, the action committee, after referring to he 77th Amendment of the Constitution mending Art. 16 paving way for reservation to SC/ST officers in Class-I promotions, requested the Chairman of the General Insurance Corporation of India Bombay to impl ment to reservation policy in promotion within Class-I aacategory for SC/ST Officers in the future promotional ezercise as per the above amendment. They further requested the Chairman to honour the constitutional rights and to issue instructions to all the subsidiaries to implement the reservation policy to clear the back-log in the institution. Again, by their communication dated April 18, 1996, the attention of the Managing Director (personnel) of the General Insurance Corporation of India was drawn to the 77th Amendment of the Constitution. In the said letter it is stated that if the respondent corporation has not received suitable instruction from the Government by that time on the reservation policy for Class-I Officers, the action committee may be informed so as to enable them to pursue the matter with the approprite authorities. Thus, it is seen, the whole basis for the claim of the petitioners is in pursuance of the 77th Amendment of the Constitution amending Article 16(4A). Inthis context, we may usefully extract art. 16 as follows :" *
16. (1) There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
(2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or offic
