SC reserves judgement on issue of grant of reservation in promotion to SCs/STs
New Delhi(PTI): The Supreme Court Tuesday reserved its judgement on the issue of the grant of reservation in promotion to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in government jobs.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Nageswara Rao heard all the parties in the matter including Attorney General K K Venugopal, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Balbir Singh, and other senior lawyers appearing for various states.
The Centre had earlier told the bench also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai that it is a fact of life that even after around 75 years those belonging to SCs and STs have not been brought to the same level of merit as the forward classes.
Venugopal had submitted that it is more difficult for those belonging to the SCs and STs to get a higher post in group A category of jobs and time has come when the apex court should give some concrete basis for SCs, STs, and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to fill up vacancies.
The bench had earlier said it would not reopen its decision on the issue of the grant of reservation in promotion to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and said it was for the states to decide how they are going to implement the same. PTI PKS
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Complete break down of rule of law in Uttar Pradesh: Supreme Court
New Delhi(PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday said there was a "complete breakdown of rule of law in Uttar Pradesh" after coming across FIRs filed by the state police in civil cases.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan asked the director general of police and the station house officer of a Gautam Budh Nagar district police station to file affidavits, explaining why the criminal law was set in motion in a civil dispute.
“There is a complete breakdown of rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. Converting a civil matter into a criminal case is not acceptable,” the CJI said.
The bench was irked after a lawyer said the FIR was filed as civil disputes take a long time to settle.
“This is wrong what is happening in UP. Everyday civil suits are being converted to criminal cases. It is absurd, merely not giving money cannot be turned into an offence,” the CJI said.
“We will direct the IO (investigating officer) to come to the witness box. Let the IO stand in the witness box and make out a criminal case…this is not the way you file chargesheets,” the CJI said, "let the IO learn a lesson".
The bench further asked, "Just because civil cases take long, you will file an FIR and set the criminal law in motion?"
The IO of the police station concerned at Sector-39 in Noida was directed by the top court to appear in the witness box in the trial court and justify the registration of the FIR in the case.
The bench was hearing a plea of the accused Debu Singh and Deepak Singh, filed through lawyer Chand Qureshi, against the Allahabad High Court refusing to quash the criminal case against them.
The top court stayed the criminal proceedings against the petitioners in a Noida trial court, but said the cheque bounce case against them would continue.
An FIR was filed against the duo in Noida under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
