The issue whether the State can make a provision for reservation in promotions first arose before a Constitution Bench in General Manager, S. Rly. v. Rangachari. It was held that the same was constitutionally permissible, as the word ‘posts’ used in Article 16(4) does not merely envisage post of ‘initial appointment’ but also ‘promotional post’.
The aforesaid legal position remained in vogue, unhindered, for almost three decades, till a nine-judge Constitution Bench in Indra Sawhney v. UOI overruled Rangachari. To overcome the decision of Indra Sawhney, Parliament enacted the Constitution (Seventy-Seventh Amendment) Act, 1995, which inserted Article 16(4A), enabling reservation in promotion for Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST).
While the 77th amendment restored reservation in promotions, in practice, a large number of promotional posts remained vacant due to non-availability of eligible SC/ST candidates. These backlog vacancies could not be filled in view of ceiling of 50% reservation prescribed in Indra Sawhney. This led to the Constitution (Eighty-First Amendment) Act, 2000, which added Article 16(4-B), whereby the unfilled posts were treated as a separate class.
Source: Barandbench
