The Supreme Court Friday refused to lay down a yardstick for granting reservation in promotion to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Nageswara Rao said states are obligated to collect data on inadequacy of representation of SCs/STs.
The apex court said it cannot lay down any yardstick to determine the inadequacy of representation of SCs/STs and leave it for the states to do so.
The Centre had earlier told the bench that it is a fact of life that even after around 75 years if independence those belonging to SCs and STs have not been brought to the same level of merit as the forward classes.
The apex court had reserved its verdict on October 26, 2021.
