Inclusion of SC/ST category and Minority community members in the Selection Boards / Committees

No. 39016/7(S)/2006-Estt.(B)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training
*****

New Delhi, the 4^th June 2010

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Inclusion of SC/ST category and Minority community members in the Selection Boards / Committees.

       The undersigned is directed to draw attention of the Ministries / Departments to this Department's O.M. of even number dated 8.1.1007 which was issued in pursuance of the Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for welfare of Minorities. Para 3 (i) and (ii) of the aforesaid O.M. provided as follows:-

      (i) The composition of Selection Committees should be representative. It shoultl be mdatory to have one member belonging to SC/ST and one member belonging to mininority commnunity in Selection Boards/Committees for making recruitment to I0 or more vacancies.

      (ii) Where the number of vacancies against which selection is to be made is less than 10, efforts should he made to have the Scheduled Caste/Tribes officer and a Minority commnunity officer included in such Committees / Boards.

2.       A doubt has been expressed regarding the applicability of above instructions in respect of Group A and B posts. It is re-iterated that the above instructions are applicable to Selection Committees / Boards for making recruitment to Group A and B posts also. Accordingly, all concerned authorities are requested to comply with the above guidelines while making recruitment to any category of posts.

(C.A.Subramanian)
Director

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Globalisation blinds us to aam aadmi plight: SC

Globalisation blinds us to aam aadmi plight: SC

In unusual self-criticism, the Supreme Court said today that courts, including the “last court in the largest democracy of the world”, have lost sympathy for the common man in pursuit of the “attractive mantras” of globalisation and liberalisation.

A Division Bench of Justice G S Singhvi and Justice A K Ganguly, in two separate orders, cautioned judges of the Supreme Court and Constitutional courts that there will be “precarious consequences” will visit the nation if they dilute constitutional imperatives to promote the “so-called trends of globalisation”.

Both judges passed their orders on January 5 in an appeal filed by Harjinder Singh, a retrenched worker with the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, who had challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court decision to pay him Rs 87,582 as compensation instead of re-instating him with 50 per cent back wages.

The judges set aside the High Court order and called for his re-instatement with 50 per cent back wages and cost of Rs 25,000.

Justice Ganguly quoted Rabindranath Tagore in his order when he described the “eventualities which may visit us in our mad rush to ape western ways of life”.

His brother judge on the Bench, Justice Singhvi, observed how he had noticed a “visible shift” generally in the courts’ approach in dealing with cases involving the interpretation of social welfare legislation like the Industrial Disputes Act.

“The attractive mantras of globalisation and liberalisation are fast becoming the raison d’etre of the judicial process and an impression has been created that the constitutional courts are no longer sympathetic towards the plight of industrial and unorganised workers,” Justice Singhvi said in his order.

Justice Singhvi said a large number of cases end up with the workmen being denied any relief from judges, who readily accept the justification employers give about such “illegal retrenchments.”

“Judges of this Court are not mere phonographic recorders but empirical scientists and interpreters of the social context in which they work,” said Justice Ganguly.

“I am in entire agreement with the view of my Lord Brother Justice Singhvi about a disturbing contrary trend which is discernible in recent times and which is sought to justified in the name of globalisation and liberalization of economy,” said Justice Ganguly.

“Our Constitution is primarily shaped and moulded for the common man. It takes no account of the ‘portly presence of the potentates, goodly in girth’. It is a Constitution not meant for the ruler, but the ranker, the tramp on the road, the slave, the man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load,” said Justice Ganguly, quoting eminent jurist N A Palkhivala.

Justice Ganguly said the “ditches” created in the society by the advance of globalisation can only be overcome if “this Court makes an effort to protect the rights of the weaker sections of the society as per the Constitutional mandate”.

“Judges and specifically the judges of the highest court have a vital role to ensure that the promise (to secure all citizens justice, liberty, equality and fraternity) is fulfilled. If judges fail to discharge their duty, they fail to uphold and abide by the Constitution which is their oath and office... Judges of the last court in the largest democracy of the world have a duty to articulate the Constitutional goal,” the Bench said.
Source: Express India

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Workmen or unions must be heard in labour disputes: SC

In labour disputes, the aggrieved workmen/unions should be compulsorily heard by the courts, before any order is passed, as otherwise, it would be violation of the "principles of natural justice," the Supreme Court has ruled.

"Labour statutes are meant for the benefit of the workmen. Hence, ordinarily in all cases under labour statutes the workmen, or at least some of them in a representative capacity, or the trade-union representing the workmen concerned must be made a party," a bench of Justices Markandeya Katju and Asok Kumar Ganguly observed.

The apex court passed the ruling while directing the Employees State Insurance (ESI) Court in Travancore to implead (hear) certain workmen who had been refused medical insurance benefits by the Fertilizers Chemicals Travancore Ltd to decide the eligibility of the workmen under the scheme.
Source: PTI

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