NEW DELHI: The Central government has told the Supreme Court that the cancellation of reservation in promotion for SC and ST employees will cause great unrest among the employees.

Between 2007 and 2020, more than four and a half lakh employees were promoted through reservation. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are under-represented in government services. Their reservation in promotion does not affect the efficiency of the administration. The government has made it clear that promotions are given only to those who are qualified.

The 75 ministries of the central government have a total staff of 27,55,430. Of them 4,79,301 are scheduled castes, 2,14,738 are scheduled tribes and 4,57,148 are OBCs. SC category is 17.3 per cent, ST category is 7.7 per cent and OBC is 16.5 per cent. Withdrawal of all the benefits of promotion on the basis of the reservation will lead to re-employment of SC and ST employees and withdrawal of additional salaries and pensions paid to retired employees. In its affidavit, the central government also stated that the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the concerned parliamentary committees have expressed concern over the inadequacy of this section of staff.