http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/SCST_posts_can_lie_vacant_but_cant_go_general_/rssarticleshow/3575625.cms
SC/ST posts can lie vacant but can't go general 9 Oct, 2008, 0241 hrs IST, ET Bureau NEW DELHI: In a major pre-election sop, the Manmohan Singh government on Wednesday decided to end de-reservation of posts meant for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in central government jobs. A meeting of the Union cabinet, chaired by the prime minister, approved enactment of a law to enforce job reservation for SCs and STs by stipulating penalties on offices which do not fill up the quotas. The move was obviously guided by the upcoming elections to state assemblies and the Lok Sabha. Briefing newspersons about the decision, finance minister P Chidambaram said the cabinet had given its nod to the proposal to enact the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, 2008. "Posts reserved for the SCs and STs will not be de-reserved and they (the vacancies) will be carried over,'' he said, adding the proposed bill would contain provisions for imposing penalties on offices which do not implement the job quota. Mr Chidambaram said the proposed legislation would also contain provisions for imparting training to the SCs and STs so as to enable them compete for jobs in addition to other existing provisions. Those candidates who come on merit, the bill recommends, would not be considered under the quota. "The proposed law will create an unambiguous, coherent and authentic framework for implementing reservation for the SCs and STs in the central government services," the finance minister pointed out. The proposed law, according to him, would bring in "interpretative clarity about various facets of the policy on reservation in central government jobs and infuse greater confidence in the minds of the SCs and STs. Sensitive to the need for providing adequate representation to these sections of the people in civil services and posts, the government resolved to enact the reservation Act to codify instructions on reservation and introduced a bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2004. The provisions of the Bill were subsequently examined by a Parliamentary Standing Committee. "After considering the recommendations of the Standing Committee and the Group of Ministers, the union cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to withdraw the Bill of 2004 and introduce another Bill,'' Mr Chidambaram added. The Bill, sources said, also provided for filling up the accumulated vacancies for SCs and STs through special recruitment drives. For the first time, the job quota was codified during the prime ministerial tenure of Mr V P Singh.
