Government steps up push to fill backlog vacancies for Scheduled Castes, Tribes
Central ministries and departments have been directed to constitute Expert/Reservation Committees to identify and clear backlog reserved vacancies for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates
These committees are tasked with identifying backlog vacancies, studying the root causes behind them, and initiating measures — including Special Recruitment Drives — to fill them
Liaison Officers, designated in each ministry/department at least at the rank of Deputy Secretary, are required to oversee strict implementation of reservation rosters and are supported by a dedicated reservation cell
Training modules — including courses through the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM) and the iGOT Karmayogi platform — have been mandated for Liaison Officers responsible for policy implementation
Parliamentary committees, including the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, are separately reviewing the status of reservation and representation of these communities, including in central public sector undertakings
Constitutional Basis of Reservation in Public Employment — Articles 16(4), 16(4A), and 335
Reservation in public employment for SCs and STs rests on specific constitutional provisions carved out as exceptions to the general equality-in-employment guarantee. Article 16(1) guarantees equality of opportunity in public employment; Article 16(4) permits the State to make special provision for reservation in appointments for backward classes not adequately represented in state services.
Key Details
- Article 16(4): enables reservation in appointments/posts for "any backward class of citizens" inadequately represented in state services
- Article 16(4A) (inserted by the 77th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1995): enables reservation in matters of promotion for SCs and STs
- Article 335: reservation claims of SCs/STs must be considered "consistent with the maintenance of efficiency of administration" in making appointments to services and posts
- Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta (2018): the Supreme Court held that the State need not collect quantifiable data on the "backwardness" of SCs/STs to grant reservation in promotion (modifying the stricter requirement laid down in M. Nagaraj (2006)), while affirming that the "creamy layer" exclusion principle applies to SC/ST reservation in promotion as well
The current push to clear backlog vacancies operationalises the reservation guarantee under Article 16(4), while the roster/vetting mechanism described (Liaison Officers, Expert Committees) is the administrative machinery through which Article 335's "efficiency" balancing and post-1997 roster corrections are implemented.
Reservation Roster System and the 1997 Post-Based Roster
Vacancies are filled against a "roster" — a pre-determined sequence of posts marked for reservation — rather than an ad hoc percentage calculation, to ensure the mandated reservation percentages are met over time without exceeding the ceiling in any given recruitment cycle.
Key Details
- The post-based roster system was introduced via a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Office Memorandum dated 2 July 1997, replacing the earlier vacancy-based roster
- "Backlog vacancies" are reserved vacancies from earlier recruitment cycles that remained unfilled — often because suitable candidates were unavailable at the time — and must be carried forward and filled separately from current-year vacancies
- Special Recruitment Drives are periodic, time-bound exercises specifically targeted at clearing backlog reserved vacancies for SC, ST, and OBC candidates
- Reservation percentages in central government services: 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, and 27% for OBC (non-creamy layer), as per extant DoPT instructions
The Expert Committees being constituted under this directive are the designated mechanism (per DoPT rosters) for identifying which vacancies are "backlog," why they remained unfilled, and how they will be cleared through Special Recruitment Drives.
Institutional Machinery: Liaison Officers and Parliamentary Oversight
Reservation policy implementation is monitored through an internal executive mechanism (Liaison Officers within each ministry) and external parliamentary oversight (Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees).
Key Details
- Each ministry/department must designate a Liaison Officer (minimum rank: Deputy Secretary) responsible for reservation policy implementation, supported by a Special Reservation Cell under their direct control
- The Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is a Parliamentary Committee (joint, comprising members from both Houses) that reviews implementation of reservation and welfare measures for SCs/STs across ministries and public sector undertakings, and tables periodic reports
- The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338A) are separate constitutional bodies empowered to investigate complaints relating to deprivation of rights and safeguards, including reservation-related grievances
The layered oversight described in the current directive — internal Liaison Officers plus external parliamentary committee review — reflects the standard two-track accountability structure (executive self-monitoring plus legislative committee scrutiny) used for reservation policy implementation, distinct from the constitutional-commission route under Articles 338/338A.
- Reservation quotas in central government services: SC 15%, ST 7.5%, OBC (non-creamy layer) 27%
- Post-based roster system in force since DoPT OM dated 2 July 1997
- Article 16(4A) inserted by the 77th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1995, enabling reservation in promotion
- Article 335 requires reservation claims to be balanced against "maintenance of efficiency of administration"
- Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta (2018) dispensed with the quantifiable-data requirement for promotion quotas set in M. Nagaraj (2006), while retaining the creamy-layer exclusion for SC/ST promotion reservation
- Liaison Officer rank requirement: at least Deputy Secretary level in each ministry/department
- Official data (cited in past government responses) indicate over 4 lakh backlog reserved vacancies for SC/ST/OBC candidates have been filled since 2016 through periodic Special Recruitment Drives