From Our Special Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has sought the intervention of President Ram Nath Kovind to take all necessary steps to ensure that the fundamental right of reservation in government jobs is secured and protected.
In a letter through the Kamrup Metro deputy commissioner on Saturday, the state opposition party drew the attention of the President to a judgment delivered by the Supreme Court on February 7, wherein the senior counsel, appearing for the Uttarakhand government, said that “there is no fundamental right to claim reservation in appointments or promotions to public posts”.
“This is a complete betrayal of the trust and faith reposed in the Constitution and the governments – both central and state – by the citizens of this country and especially those who belong to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBC (Other Backward Class) communities,” the letter to the President read.
The APCC termed the move by any elected government, be it at the Centre or state, as a brazen attack on the Constitution as also the fundamental rights of ST/SC/OBCs in government jobs.
“Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the government of the day has chosen to yet again resort to falsehoods and obfuscations to conceal and suppress its role in the pronouncement of this judgment.
The opposition party stated that “it is a recorded fact that the BJP government in Uttarakhand filed an appeal against a judgment which would have allowed them to grant reservations in promotions.”
“It is also a fact that the BJP government went beyond the subject matter of the appeal and argued that there is no fundamental right or constitutional duty to give reservations either in appointments or promotions,” the APCC stated in the letter.
It further stated that this was not the first time such a dilution has been attempted by the BJP government.
“Since they came to power at the Centre, there has been an abolition of the SC/ST Sub-Plan. There was also an attempt to dilute the provisions of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which the BJP government was compelled to remedy (by way of amendment recently) following nationwide protests,” the letter said.