Hyderabad High Court fiat for Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams on creamy layer

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court has directed that the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) shall collect quantifiable data and exclude the creamy layer before making any promotions based on Rule of Reservation and giving consequential seniority. Dr. K. Lakshmi Narasimha, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that the plea of the appellants that their promotion was legal cannot be sustainable in view of the recent judgment of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court in Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narrain.

He submitted that the Supreme Court has ruled that before making any promotions under the Rule of Reservation, it is imperative that the State should obtain quantifiable data for each cadre, and secondly, exclude all such SC and ST employees who fall under the creamy layer.

A division bench comprising Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar and Justice M. Ganga Rao was disposing of writ appeals challenging an order of a single judge declaring as illegal the action of the TTD in granting consequential seniority to employees promoted under Rule of Reservation like appellants without there being any such policy decision by the state government.

While considering the latest judgment of the Supreme Court, the bench held that in case the TTD wishes to make any promotions based on Rule of Reservation and in case TTD wishes to give consequential seniority to SC and ST employees, then they must collect the data as mandated by the Supreme Court judgment in Jarnail Singh’s case. This is the first judgment of the High Court after the recent Supreme Court judgment rendered in the Jarnail Singh case.