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Ssc SOCIAL STUDY CIRCLE di (ESTD
1982) www.dalitindia.com ssc@dalitindia.com *********************************************************************** |
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MEMORANDUM
on the BLACK OMs of the GOVT against SCs&STs
We would like to draw your kind attention to
our Letters on the six Black OMs issued by successive Govts, including yours,
to finish off and bury alive the educated SCs&STs, almost all of whom are
in Govt Services, Banks, PSUs, Universities and other Autonomous Institutions. As you
are fully aware, we had all discussed, debated, protested and agitated against
these Black OMs, listed along with this MEMORANDUM, both in the Parliament,
Offices and outside in various Forums, asking you and the Govt to Withdraw,
Cancel and appropriately Modify these six anti-Reservation and anti-SC&ST
Black OMs.
You and your Govt have been promising many a
times in the Parliament, and also in various Public and Press Statements, that
you would do everything possible to protect the SC&ST Employees from these Dark OMs. But more than 3 years had passed by, and
nothing material had been done. Your
Govt in bits and pieces has been considering various options, even though many
a loud statements and promises are being made deliberately to influence the
SC&ST Dalits to vote in your favour before the Elections and Bye-Elections,
and Elections in the States and UTs.
Yet, you are still to remedy the Problems created by these black OMs to
the SCs&STs, as well as to the OBCs.
Your Govt had so far only brought about,
that too in a very casual manner but with much fanfare, two Constitutional
Amendments - the Eighty Eighth and the Ninetieth. You have thus
added to the Constitution, Additional Provisions in Article 335 to enable the
Govt to Relax Qualifying Marks in any Exams, and lower the Standards of
Evaluation in Promotions to Posts and Services, Reserved for the
SCs&STs. You have also inserted the
Sub-Clause 16(4a) in the Fundamental Rights, to treat Unfilled Carry Forward
Vacancies as a Separate Class of Posts that can be filled up anytime with
suitable SCs&STs, without clubbing them up with new vacancies and affecting
the 50% Reservation Limits. Sofar so
good.
You have failed to
state anywhere on the record, that the 50% Reservation Limit is an unreasonable
imposition by the Courts and the Govt, that would leave all the Backward
Castes, Minorities and SC&ST Dalits at a great disadvantage in the future,
as they would have to forego nearly 50% of their own rightful Shares and Dues
to the other dominant caste hindus in power, only because the caste hindu
dominated judiciary wants it to be so.
What a fraud this is? We
want to emphasize here again that Amendments to the Constitution are not the
Answers to the biases and prejudices of the Govt and Govt Officials against the
OBCs, SC&ST Dalits and other Minorities.
For, that would only lead to endless trouble. And that would reduce the Parliament,
Constitutional Amendments and the Constitution itself to mockery. If tomorrow someone objects to the sneezing
by an OBC, or SC or ST, or a Minority
in any Govt Office, your Govt may feel helpless and will have to think of
coming up with another Constitutional Amendment! We had already warned you against resorting to the Path of the
Constitutional Amendments, to correct the distortions deliberately being
introduced, and overcome the obstacles wantonly erected by the prejudiced Govt
Officials and biased Courts! You should
have had the Guts to rescind, and withdraw all those Black OMs, straightaway
and forthwith.
The present Constitutional Amendments are
also not fully effective and useful to the SC&ST Employees. They would serve very very limited purposes. For example, what
will you, your Govt and your officers do, if in a year in some office just five
officers in a particular post retire, of which one each is a SC, ST and
OBC? Thus caused will be, five
vacancies in a particular Post, with three to be filled by one SC, one ST and
one OBC Reserved Candidates, as per the
Govts second OM dtd 2nd July 1997 on Post Based Rosters. But
then, you can’t appoint three Reserved Candidates of one SC, one ST and one
OBC, even though they are specifically Reserved for them as per the above OM,
because that violates the 50% Limit set by your other OM - the fifth one dtd
29th August 1997. And this is
not an hypothetical case, or a rare situation.
Rather, this is going to be the Rule of the day in future. For, the SCs&STs, are allowed to join
their Service, only very late in life after many many attempts and applications
for Jobs. Hence, they would be retiring
much earlier than their colleagues who joined service along with them. Thus, the percentage of SCs&STs retiring
from Service will always be more, crossing your 50% limits. Hope,
you will realise, at least now, that all these OMs are violative and opposed to
each other. See, how even
after these Constitution Amendments, you are going to be helpless, and also
letdown the SCs&STs in future.
Do you find how ridiculous your Govt, OMs, Constitutional Amendments and
the Court Decisions are? And how effective
the Constitutional Amendments will be?
In what a laughing state, they will leave the State and the Govt
in? So much so, for all that you, your
Govt, your Ministers, all concerned Ministries, your advisers and your
officials had done and planned for!
That is the result and real effectiveness of all the half-hearted and
hasty last-minute decisions that you had taken, to help and rescue the
SC&ST Officers Staff and other Workers, without consulting knowledgeable
SC&ST Leaders on these issues.
In view of the above, We
would like to again emphasize that you should not go on tampering with the
Constitution so casually and so frequently, every time the caste hindus resent,
the officials oppose, the Courts are upset, and the Judges frown. Otherwise you will end up adding, the entire
Subordinate Service Legislations and Rules into the Constitution. But that is not the end. Your Govt actions show that you are unable
to come to grips with the Unreasonable and Prejudiced Judiciary, and their
pre-dispositions against Reservations and the OBCs' and SC&ST Dalits’
Progress in Life. Emboldened by your
soft weak knee-jerk reactions, already many caste hindus and a handful of their
official supporters are saying that whatever the Govt may do or the Parliament
enact, they will get them struck down by their Courts, blaming the Parliament's
Amendmnets to the Constitution in the matter of Reservations as being
Un-Constitutional! They have such
respect for the Parliament, have so much of confidence in their Judges, and are
taking the Courts for granted! They so
easily predict the course of actions and decisions by their Judges, and or are
in a position - perhaps to influence them to act the way they themselves think
and want the Courts to decide. So
cheaply they take the Parliament, and have so much of contempt for the
Parliament, Parliament’s Powers, and the Constitutional Amendments.
One of
your own Additional Solicitor Generals remarked, in a debate on Door Darshan
recently, in full Public View of Millions of our Countrymen, and also the
Foreigners who might have been watching the Programme on TV, that certain
Amendments to the Constitution if made by the Parliament, to protect
Reservations and SCs&STs, would be struck down by the Courts. If this is the foregone conclusion of an
Additional Solicitor General, We don’t know what type of Legal Officers they
are, and what types of Legal Advice can they give to the Govt?And how well can
they serve and protect the interests of the majority of our poor and weak
people? This is also because of the ridiculous extent and depth to
which the Courts have also sunk, and the Govt and the Parliament have been
brought down by your Govt. And in the
end, We and the Country today don’t know who is in Power, who is running the
Govt, who are taking decisions, under what fear are these decisions taken, who
is answerable to the Parliament, who is accountable to the People, and who is
really Sovereign in this Country today?
Most important of all these raise
the basic question whether the Officials, the Courts, the Govt and the
Parliament are interested in serving, protecting and upholding the Rights,
Interests and Future of the Majority of our People?
Are the Officials, Courts, Judges and the
whole Judiciary, not accountable and answerable to anyone today? Are they really
being influenced by the thinking of those caste hindus, who bring them to
power, and or lobby to place them in their exalted positions? We really don’t know! In fact, it is really sad that they have
been acting in such a reckless and callous way of being totally anti-People,
particularly anti-OBCs, and most specifically anti-SCs&STs, and
anti-Reservation, leading to such doubts, and such Questions in the Society
today. As a Democracy, We just can not ever afford to, or be allowed to be
dictated and driven by a bunch of individuals, however great intelligent wise
and experienced they may be! We can
never pledge or surrender the rights dignity and future of the OBCs and also
that of the 260 million SC&ST Dalits of this Country, to the biases
prejudices intolerance and hatred of these great wise men and women. Here, We would like to recall the
Prophetic Foresight and Warning of Baba Saheb in the Constituent Assembly on
25th Nov 1949. He very rightly and
appropriately quoted, John Stuart’s caution, when he said -
all who are interested in the maintenance of Democracy,
namely, not “to lay their Liberties at the feet of even a great man, or trust
him with powers which enable him to subvert their Institutions”
Of course, Honourable Baba Saheb’s statement and Mill’s
Quotation were to powerful and charismatic Political Personalities, and not to
the Judges. But it is a very sad day
that We had to now Quote, both of them in the context of the actions of the
Courts and Judges in this Country, vis-à-vis the large number of poor and weak
SC&ST Dalits and also the OBCs, whose Reservations the caste hindu
dominated judges are today after. Yes,
it is really sad! But, Baba Saheb
himself, during the course of the same speech in another context delineated the
Limits of the Courts, and the Boundaries which the Judges Can Not Cross! And Baba Saheb in his speech, rightly and
emphatically Quoted -
“Courts may
modify, they cannot replace. They can
revise earlier interpretations, as new arguments, new points of view are
presented. They can shift the dividing
line in marginal cases, but there are barriers they can not pass, definite
assignments of power they can not reallocate.
They can give a broadening construction of existing powers, but they
cannot assign to one arbitrary powers, explicitly granted to another.”
This Quotation by Honourable Baba Saheb Dr BR Ambedkar
himself in the Constituent Assembly on the 25th of November while introducing
his Motion for Adoption of our Constitution, is very relevant to us today, as
the greedy reckless Judges are showing signs of dictatorial tendencies, and are
trying to grab and centralise all Powers with them, by snatching them from
other Independent Sovereign Institutions like the Parliament, and Authorities
like the Govt of India. Please please therefore rethink, and assert
the Authority of the Parliament and People before the Courts, least it be too
late in the day.
Coming back to the
OMs you have not done anything.
Therefore you have to immediately and at the earliest -
1. Restore the
Rights of SCs&STs, to reclaim for their Communities through Reservations in
Promotions, their Communities' Share of the Higher Posts at responsible and
decision making levels, which are still being unfairly occupied and enjoyed by
the caste hindus, in all Govt Offices,
Banks, PSUs, Educational Institutions including the Universities, and other
Autonomous Institutions.
The first of the Black OMs was issued by the
Govt on 30th January 1997. A very good and auspicious day to kill the SC&ST
Employees. This OM was based on a very
very wrong and misleading Judgement by the Supreme Court on 10th Oct 1995, in
the Railway Guards Case which was originally decided wrongly again by the CAT
Allahabad in 1986. This denies Seniority, to all
SCs&STs promoted to higher Posts, Grades, Levels, Ranks and Services
against Reserved Vacancies, from the day of their Promotions. They will loose their Seniority, everytime a
general candidate is promoted on a future date, only because that general candidate had manged to originally join
service in the lower garades of posts before the SCs&STs, and had thus
gained a higher seniority in the lower post. Without a real Right of Reservations in Promotions, and also a Right to
Gain Seniority in the higher posts, at least from the day of the Appointments
to the Higher Posts, SC&ST Officers and Staff can never function honestly,
sincerely, effectively and efficiently. It is in the Interest of the Govt, Public
Good, Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Administration, that you should look
into this urgently and immediately, unless you and your Govt are really not
interested in these! In fact
the SCs&STs should be given a higher notional seniority from the day the
Reserved Posts had fallen vacant, and before the general candidates were
appointed to those posts in lieu of SCs&STs on the unreasonable grounds
that suitable SCs&STs were not available.
It is to deny these rights of SCs&STs and their due Seniority, by
hiding all the manipulations and injustices against them by the caste hindus in
power, and also to continue with them in future also, the dominant caste hindus
everywhere had ganged up. That is the
reason for the whole lot of anti-SC&ST, anti-OBCs, anti-Minorities actions,
and anti-Reservation cases and judgements these days, such as RK Sabharwal, Virpal Chauhan, Ajit Singh, Ajit Singh II
etc. These have been unreasonably
decided against SC&ST Promotions, and Seniority in the higher grades of
promoted posts.
May
be, apart from the cumulative ever-present general biases and prejudices of the
general candidate petitioners, officials, lawyers etc; the limited
understandings of Govts’ Rules and Procedures by many around, and the inability
and unwillingness of the Govt Officials to throw sufficient, proper, right and
correct light on them; and the casual third party exposure of the Judges to
their relatives’ service problems in the higher echelons of administration like
IAS, IPS etc, where Seniority in such Services across different State and UT
Cadres is almost permanently fixed based on their Selections to the Service,
and the consequent Seniority at the entry levels of joining the Higher Services
years ago, had influenced the decisions in these cases. As a result, the Rules of All India Higher Services like
IAS and IPS etc are now being applied to the lower level local employees like
the Rly Guards etc. This peculiar
and ridiculous situation had been deliberately allowed to go on, right from the
time the case came up before the Allahabad High Court which decided the case in
1972. So ridiculous is the real basis
of these Judgements, couched in legal fineries, semantic confusions, discreet
hidden anti-SC&ST Biases and all the open anti-Reservation Arguments, that
from then on nobody wants to listen and see reason.
While
the Ajit Singh II Case was being argued before the Constitution Bench of the
Supreme Court, the whole Arguments of an Advocate of the SCs&STs were
actually thrown out by the honourable judges on ground that the Court had no time
to listen to him or hear his arguments, or go through his written
submissions. How then could the Judges
and the Court decide? How right were
they or could they be, if they didn’t even want to listen the Lawyers of the
SCs&STs, or even look into their papers and pleadings? Yet, learned wise and honourable they all
are! No wonder then their Judgements
are materially and factually wrong! All
the Judgements against SCs&STs Seniority on Promotion, precariously and
unfairly rest and rely on an odd Rule of the Railways, that too misinterpreted
in Allahabad as far back as 1972. This
falsehood and misinterpretation - deliberate or by oversight or by mistake - is
being imposed on the entire SC&ST Employees in Govt Service all over the
Country,
setting aside all the Rules Regulations Procedures Practices and age-old
traditional Precedences of the Govt of India, and the States and UT Govts for
the last fifty years, and many many decades before Independance. That is the ignorance and tyranny of the
caste hindus, their judges and their Courts, where SCs&STs are not being
allowed to enter, and are being carefully and very discreetly kept out from the
ranks of the Judges. In view of these,
all the Judgements on the Seniority of SCs&STs Promoted under Reservations
have to be summarily rejected, and a Collegium of Judges be asked to do a
thorough study of these Cases, that too after a proper homework and briefing to
understand different Rules in different Services at different levels. Otherwise, let us abolish all Services
grades groups and levels in Govt, and have a single grade of Govt Employees,
with the same pay scales, with no promotions.
Ridiculous this may be! But
equally ridiculous it is, if not much
more, to say that anyone promoted earlier would loose seniority to someone
promoted later!! No office and no
service can work survive and deliver results, if such absurd principles are to
be applied in the Country. How
can anyone promoted to a higher position, command, control, exercise powers,
extract work and deliver results, if he or she has to live in the fear of loosing seniority at a later date to the
ones they are to command and extract work!
2. Restore the
Old Rosters that Reserved for the SCs, STs and OBCs Alternate Posts, leaving the other alternate even number of Posts as
General, so that at least 50% of the Jobs are always Reserved, as had been
promised by the Govt to SC, ST, and OBC Communities.
Today, under the
guise of issuing appropriate Orders in view of RK Sabharwal’s Case decided by
the Supreme Court on 10th Feb 1995, the caste hindu officials had issued the
second Black OM on 2nd July 1997, radically and adversely altering on their
own, the Rosters denying the STs, SCs and OBCs any Reservation in many of the
Posts in most of the Offices.
Biased prejudiced caste hindu anti-ST, anti-SC and anti-OBC Officers,
had with ulterior motives and openly mollified intentions, silently and
mischievously changed the order and ratio of general and reserved posts on
their own, under the cover of Supreme Court Judgements. As a result, the STs, SCs, and OBCs are always on
the loosing end, never getting their respective percentages of Reserved Posts,
and with the Total hardly reaching the minimum 50% Reservations. When there are 12 and less posts, the STs.
SCs and OBCs don’t get their due Reservations, and often No-Reservations at
all. Hence, the caste hindu
officials everywhere are now busy in segregating and dividing the Posts in
different grades and levels, into various different categories, so that they
are always much below the redline mark of 12 in numbers. This is a clear and deliberate attempt, to
grab all Good Posts, Top Positions and Capture all Govt Offices, particularly
at the Apex Decision Making Positions, and down below in the Field Levels,
where the officials are masters of all they could see. In view of these, you will have to amend the
OM dtd 2nd July 1997, and restore the old Rosters of Odd numbered Posts being Reserved for SCs, STs and OBCs.
3. Provide
Reservations to SCs&STs in the higher Levels of Service, at Every Grade,
right from the Junior Scale Class I Posts to the Top Rung Posts of Secretaries, Cabinet Secretary and
Equivalent Posts elsewhere in the Govt, Banks, PSUs, Universities, Autonomous
Bodies etc. Only this would ensure that, the Letter and Spirit of 1932 Poona
Pact, and various Constitutional Provisions including Art 16(4A) come alive, at
least now after 50 years of Independence, and become realities and meaningful
to the SCs&STs.
The OM issued by the Govt on the 13th August
1997, limits Reservations to only the initial Rungs of higer Services where
Direct Recruitments are made, or to the Posts and Levels and Grades to which
Promotions are made on the basis of Seniority subject to the elimination of the
unfit. This is totally unfair.
For, Constitution nowhere limits Reservations to only Some Posts, Some
Levels, Some Services or Some Grades.
This OM is not only against the Letter and Spirit of the Constitution,
but is highly restrictive of the Opportunities made available to the
SCs&STs. Govt should therefore
quickly come out with an Yearly Statement about the total Numbers of
Secretaries to the Govt of India, the actual Numbers of SCs and STs amongst
them, and their Percentages, ever since the Independence of this Country, and
what they are planning to do to ensure that the SCs&STs get their due
shares. A similar statement on
Equivalent Posts in Banks, PSUs, Universities, Autonomous Institutions be also
furnished.
4. Undo the most
dangerous of all the Black OMs. The
sixth OM brought out by you on 1st July 1998, without any provocation whatsoever, shows the prevailing
total prejudices against the SCs&STs and the OBCs.
There
was no provocation or reason to bring this OM.
There were no Judgements, and no case had been cited as a reason for
coming out with this OM. This shows the
extent to which the anti-SCs&STs and anti-OBCs had grown emboldened these
days. Is there any hope whatsoever in getting Justice or any fair
Treatment at all, from such openly biased and prejudiced officials and
antagonistic authorities? Can We trust
them anymore? No! Definitely not!
This OM says that anyone, that is any SC or ST, or any
OBC, who had ever availed of any benefit under Reservation, such as age
concession, relaxation in the relative qualifying mark which should not be
confused with the basic qualification required otherwise for the post, number
of attempts in the exams etc, should not
be considered or appointed or adjusted against any general vacancy, even if they come at the top in the merit
list with better performance than many other general candidates. It says that they will not be available for
consideration against unreserved vacancies.
This is not only an uncalled for OM, but is also the most dangerous
of all the OMs. It is much more
damaging to the SCs&STs and OBCs, who continue to be discriminated all
through their lives in the Society.
This OM itself is a measure of the discrimination prevailing, even in
the minds of senior officials of the Govt of India. It has unlimited potentials of harming the SC&ST and OBC Govt
Employees in future. The SC&ST
Dalits and OBCs, will soon be debarred and deprived of any Promotions, whenever
and wherever there are no Reserved Posts available at the higher Levels, or
Reservations are not applicable in the said posts for Appointments either by
Direct Recruitment or Promotions, even when they are otherwise eligible and due
for Promotions in the normal course by vertue of their service and seniority,
and are senior than general candidates.
This will then seal the future growth development and Representations of
SCs&STs and the OBCs, at the higher Levels of Service and Govt
Administration. Thus, it
had been deliberately brought out to finish the SCs&STs once and for all,
even if they were otherwise efficient, effective, intelligent, dynamic and
capable. This OM therefore had to be scrapped outrightly, without wasting
any-further time.
CONCLUSION AND DEMAND
In view of the above,
all SC&ST Members of Parliament and Political Leaders from all Parties
without any reservation, unanimously feel that you and your Govt had not done
anything for the SCs&STs and OBCs, and had failed to keep up your promises
to safeguard and protect the interests of SC&ST Govt Employees. Your Constitution Amendments have not served
the SCs&STs. In fact, We would like
to warn you now, well in advance, and caution that right now there is a great
conspiracy going on between many employees associations, leading lawyers, and
members of the bar etc, to set aside and declare Articles 16(4A) and 16(4B) as
null and void, and strike them off as being unconstitutional. Therefore, there is a great urgency, for the
Govt to act holistically, if we are to protect the interests of the SCs&STs
and OBCs, preserve the neutrality of the Govt, Supremacy of the Parliament, and
prevent an endless Civil Strife in the Country with the SCs&STs and OBCs on
the one side, and the rest of the caste hindus on the other, which would
otherwise break out and become the order of the day. You must immediately
withdraw all the Black OMs, than going in for piecemeal solutions and resorting
to meaningless exercises of Constitutional Amendments.
To think of it, there is much more that needs to be done by
the Govt, in view of a whole lot of anti-SC&ST, anti-OBC, anti-Reservation
Judgements being pronounced by the Courts to deny Education, Jobs, Promotions,
Seniority and so on! Let the Govt act,
before it is too late in the day!
Hope you could see reason.
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