DEHRADUN: A single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari of the Uttarakhand high court (HC), citing a division bench decision of 2012 regarding reservation in promotion in government jobs, ruled that “it cannot be claimed as a right.” The order, delivered on Monday and made available on Wednesday, came while dismissing a petition filed by Navmi Devi, a ‘group D’ employee in the state education department, who had approached the court in 2018 seeking reservation in promotions. She claimed that being a scheduled caste (SC) employee, she was entitled to get the benefit of reservation.

The director had written to the state government that “reserved category employees were threatening to resort to agitation if they are not given the benefit of reservation.” The letter requested the state government “to re-examine the matter of promotions.”
State counsel VS Rawat, however, pointed out that Section 3 (7) of UP Public Services (Reservation of SCST and OBC) Act which provided for reservation in promotion was struck down by a division bench of the court in 2012.

On Monday, state counsel Rawat cited this judgment to point out that “the benefit of reservation in promotion cannot be given to the petitioner.” The bench concluded that it found merit in the state counsel’s argument and dismissed the petition.