Governor B L Joshi on Sunday gave his assent to an ordinance which amends the Uttar Pradesh Public Servants (Reservation for Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes) Act,1994,abolishing reservation in promotions for government employees. The state cabinet had approved the ordinance last Friday. It had also deleted rule 8 (a) of the Uttar Pradesh Government Servants Seniority Rules,which conferred the benefit of consequential seniority on SC/ST employees,giving them an advantage over other employees. On April 27,the Supreme Court had upheld the Allahabad High Court decision,holding that the UP government's policy of reservation in promotions,which was introduced by the previous Mayawati government,was ultra vires of the Constitution. The Mayawati government had challenged the high court judgment in the Supreme Court. The state government's decision to amend the 1994 act and the rules is meant to comply with the Supreme Court judgment. Last week,former chief minister and BSP president Mayawati had asked the Centre to enact a constitutional amendment to undo the Supreme Court judgment. Her party had staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha. However,the Sarvajan Hitaya Sanrakshan Samiti,an organisation of employees fighting against reservation in promotions,had demanded that the government implement the SC judgment without delay. It pointed out that,in its election manifesto,the Samajwadi Party had promised that it would deal with the issue of "reservation in promotion according to the directions of the Supreme Court".
