Political parties consider SCs/STs as vote bank: ex-Law minister to SC

Political parties consider scheduled castes and tribes as "vote banks" and granting quota in promotions to "IAS officers" or "District Judges" belonging to these communities violate the right to equality, former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan told the Supreme Court today.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra was told by the senior advocate that granting quota in promotions for IAS officers and district judges would be in the "teeth of basic structure" of the Constitution.

"Once you are a Class-I officer, you cease to belong from the backward class... Reservation in promotion for IAS officers will be in the teeth of the right to equality which is also part of the basic structure of Constitution," Bhushan told the bench.

He also took a dig at senior advocate P S Patwalia, representing Tripura and Bihar, for supporting the quota in promotions by referring to the verdict penned by his father and apex court judge Justice Kuldeep Singh.

The veteran lawyer quoted Justice Singh as saying that grant of quota in promotion would create "heart-burn" among equally placed government employees and said "Mr Patwalia is overruling Justice Kuldeep Singh".

He said the right to equality and equal opportunities in public employment was part of the basic structure of the Constitution and "the political parties consider SC/ST as vote bank", negating the constitutional scheme.

Referring to the nine-judge bench verdict in the Mandal case, he said there should not be any reservation in promotions.

Referring to various apex court verdicts, he said "crutches cannot be provided to an employee after entering into the class I and II services because it would create heart burn to equally placed other employees".

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan also supported Bhushan and said that reservation cannot be allowed in "perpetuity".

"The creamy layer concept does not deal with the group's right. It simply says that certain individuals who have come up are not entitled to reservation," Dhavan said.

He accused the political parties of "brazenly overruling the equality concept in the Constitution".