Promotion Roster Wrongly Applied to SC, ST or PwBD Employees

Two very different readers, one question

Roster disputes come from both sides of the table. An SC Tax Assistant in a Kolkata customs house may find that the points his cadre's model roster marks for SC were given to unreserved candidates because the office said no SC employee was eligible, when he was. A general category Tax Assistant in the same office may find that, once all the reserved points were full, the next two vacancies vacated by unreserved officers were also given to reserved candidates, so the cadre now has more reserved promotees than the quota permits.

Both are asking the same question: was the roster applied as the current orders require? The answer depends on checking three things in order. First, whether reservation in promotion could lawfully be applied in that cadre at all, which since 2022 depends on cadre-wise data. Second, whether the post-based roster was drawn up and operated correctly. Third, whether the seniority and fitness rules were applied correctly to the people who were promoted. Most real cases turn on the second point. The roster register is wrongly maintained far more often than the policy itself is wrong.

The constitutional and statutory provisions

How the courts shaped the present rules

In Indra Sawhney (1992), the Supreme Court held that Article 16(4) did not permit reservation in promotion, but let existing promotion quotas run for five years. Parliament responded with Article 16(4A) in 1995. In R.K. Sabharwal (1995), the Court held that the roster must be post-based, not vacancy-based: once the reserved share of a cadre is filled, later vacancies go to the category of the person who left. DoPT moved to post-based rosters by an OM of 2 July 1997.

In M. Nagaraj (2006), a Constitution Bench upheld Articles 16(4A) and 16(4B) but said the State must show backwardness, inadequacy of representation and that overall efficiency is not affected. In Jarnail Singh (2018), the Court removed the requirement to collect data on backwardness for SCs and STs, while keeping the need to show inadequate representation. In Jarnail Singh v. Lachhmi Narain Gupta (January 2022), the Court held that the data on inadequacy must be collected cadre-wise, not for the whole service or for a group of posts, and must be reviewed periodically.

After that judgment, DoPT issued an OM on 12 April 2022 telling ministries to collect quantifiable data on representation of SCs and STs in each cadre, and to apply reservation in promotion in a cadre only after satisfying themselves about inadequacy and efficiency. For many cadres this meant a pause, followed by a burst of DPCs. Promotions made in that period are where many of the present disputes come from.

How a post-based promotion roster is meant to work

For promotion, the central government reserves 15 per cent of posts for SCs and 7.5 per cent for STs. There is no reservation for OBCs or EWS in promotion. Reservation applies in promotion by non-selection, and in promotion by selection from Group C to B, within Group B, and from Group B to the lowest rung of Group A; check the instructions for your exact grade, because the position above the lowest rung of Group A is different.

The roster is drawn up to the sanctioned strength of the cadre in the promotion quota. Each post has a point, and the model roster marks which points belong to SC, ST and unreserved. When the cadre is filled for the first time, posts are filled according to those points. After that the roster works on replacement: a vacancy is filled by the category of the person who vacated it. So if an SC officer promoted against an SC point retires, the vacancy goes to SC; if an unreserved officer retires, it goes to an unreserved candidate.

Errors usually creep in at the replacement stage, especially where the sanctioned strength changed after restructuring and nobody redrew the roster, or where an officer moved out on deputation and his point was treated as vacant. A roster register that was last updated before a cadre review is a strong sign that something has gone wrong.

Backlog, carry forward and de-reservation

A reserved point in promotion that cannot be filled because no eligible SC or ST employee is available does not simply pass to an unreserved candidate for good. Under the DoPT instructions it is carried forward as a backlog vacancy, and Article 16(4B) lets such backlog be filled in later years without counting it against the 50 per cent ceiling of that year. Filling a reserved promotion vacancy with an unreserved officer permanently needs the de-reservation procedure, which is tightly controlled and has to be recorded in the file with reasons.

In the papers this matters in two ways. A reserved employee should check whether a point that arose before he became eligible was carried forward, because it may be waiting for him now. A general category employee should check whether a backlog was filled in a year when it should have lapsed or been exchanged, or whether the same backlog was counted twice. Offices that kept no separate backlog register often cannot answer either question, and that weakness usually shows up as soon as CAT asks the department to produce the record.

Common roster errors and who is hurt by them

PwBD reservation in promotion since May 2022

For years, central departments did not apply disability reservation in promotion to Group A and B posts. The Supreme Court held in Rajeev Kumar Gupta (2016) and again in Siddaraju v. State of Karnataka (2020) that reservation for persons with disabilities applies to identified posts even if filled by promotion. In September 2021 the Court directed the government to issue instructions under Section 34. DoPT did so by OM No. 36012/1/2020-Estt.(Res-II) dated 17 May 2022.

Under that OM, 4 per cent of vacancies in the cadre are reserved for PwBD in promotion from Group C to B, within Group B, and from Group B to the lowest rung of Group A, in cadres where direct recruitment is not more than 75 per cent. Each cadre keeps a separate 100-point promotion roster divided into four blocks of 25, with points 1, 26, 51 and 76 earmarked for PwBD across the disability categories. Only posts identified as suitable for a category, under the DEPwD notification of 4 January 2021, count.

The reservation is horizontal. A PwBD promotee is adjusted against the SC, ST or unreserved point of his own vertical category. If not enough PwBD employees meet the standard, relaxed standards may be applied provided the candidate is not unfit, and the zone of consideration can be extended up to five times the vacancies. An unfilled point is carried forward, may be interchanged between disability categories, and lapses after the period the OM sets. The guide on RPwD Act rights at work covers the wider protections, including Section 20 on non-discrimination.

Seniority after a roster promotion: catch-up and consequential seniority

The roster decides who is promoted; seniority in the higher grade decides who is promoted next. In Virpal Singh Chauhan (1995) and Ajit Singh (1996 and 1999), the Supreme Court applied a catch-up rule: a general category senior promoted later would regain his seniority over the reserved junior promoted earlier through the roster. The 85th Amendment then allowed consequential seniority for SC and ST roster promotees, with effect from 17 June 1995, and DoPT restored it for central services by an OM of 21 January 2002.

In practice, this means a reserved category employee promoted through the roster keeps the seniority from that promotion. Disputes arise where an office applied the catch-up rule for some years and not for others, or recast seniority lists after the 2002 OM without notice to those affected. These cases overlap with general seniority disputes; our page on objecting to a seniority list covers that route.

What to ask for under RTI before you complain

Roster complaints written without the roster register usually fail, because the department simply replies that the roster has been correctly maintained. Ask under RTI for the roster register for promotion in your cadre for the relevant years, the sanctioned strength in the promotion quota for each year, the list of officers promoted against each point, the cadre-wise data on representation collected under the DoPT OM of 12 April 2022, and the inspection notes of the Liaison Officer for SCs and STs.

For PwBD, add a request for the list of posts in the cadre identified as suitable for each disability category and the 100-point promotion roster maintained after May 2022. If the office says no PwBD roster exists, that answer is itself evidence. Expect some resistance where the roster names officers and their categories: since 13 November 2025 the personal information exemption in Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act is wider, and a challenge to that change is pending, so ask for the roster with names masked if that is what it takes to get the points and categories. Advocate B.K. Singh asks for the roster register before forming any view, because two employees in the same cadre can read the same promotion order in opposite ways until the points are laid out side by side. Our guide on getting DPC records through RTI has more on wording such requests.

Raising a roster dispute, from first letter to CAT

1. Map the cadre

   Using the RTI papers, list every post in the promotion quota, its roster point, the officer holding it and his category. Mark each promotion in the disputed years. The error usually becomes visible on paper within an hour.

2. Write to the appointing authority

   Send a representation through proper channel, attaching the table you prepared. Ask for specific relief: correction of the roster, a review DPC for the year in which your point arose, and seniority from that date. Send a copy to the Liaison Officer for SCs and STs or the Grievance Redressal Officer for disabilities, as the case may be.

3. Use the statutory bodies where they help

   SC and ST employees can approach the National Commission for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. PwBD employees can approach the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. Their recommendations carry weight but cannot themselves promote you.

4. Wait six months or until rejection

   Under Section 20 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, CAT expects you to exhaust departmental remedies. If your representation is rejected, or not decided in six months, you can file.

5. File the OA with all affected parties

   Name every employee whose promotion or seniority would change. CAT cannot unsettle the position of someone who was not heard. The guide on affected juniors as necessary parties explains how to serve them.

6. Ask for interim protection if needed

   If more DPCs are about to be held on the same roster, ask that any promotion be made subject to the outcome of your OA. See our page on interim orders from CAT.

Documents checklist

• Your appointment and promotion orders, and your caste or disability certificate as accepted by the department
• Seniority lists in the feeder and promotion grades for the disputed years
• Promotion orders showing who was promoted and against which point
• RTI reply with the roster register and sanctioned strength
• Cadre-wise representation data collected after April 2022, or the reply that none exists
• Notification of posts identified for your disability category, for PwBD cases
• Any de-reservation proposal or order
• Your representation, reminders and the department's replies

Time and cost at each stage

Where the case is filed and who goes elsewhere

A roster dispute is a service matter, so for central government civil employees it goes to CAT under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act. The bench is the one with jurisdiction over your place of posting. A railway employee in Secunderabad files at the Hyderabad Bench; an income tax employee in Jaipur at the Jaipur Bench; a defence civilian in an ordnance factory in Kanpur at the Allahabad Bench. CAT can examine whether a DoPT OM or a recruitment rule complies with the Constitution, though its decision can then be taken to the High Court.

Not everyone with a roster grievance comes to CAT. CAPF personnel in the CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP and SSB file writs in the High Court. Employees of PSUs and public sector banks also go to the High Court, as their reservation rules flow from DPE guidelines and their own policies. State government employees go to their State Administrative Tribunal or the High Court, and the roster in their case is under the state's own law and orders. Our page on CAPF, PSU and bank service writs explains that route.

Group-wise and department-wise points worth knowing

In Group C cadres with seniority-cum-fitness promotion, the roster is the main battleground because fitness is rarely in dispute. In Group B and Group A selection posts, the benchmark and the zone of consideration interact with the roster: reserved candidates within the extended zone can be promoted against reserved points on relaxed standards if not found unfit. Our guide on the zone of consideration explains how the zone is worked out.

Railways maintain promotion rosters under Railway Board instructions, and the post-based roster principle applies there as well. In the Department of Posts, rosters for cadres such as Postal Assistant are kept at the division or circle level depending on the cadre, and a common problem is a roster kept at the wrong level, for example for one division when the promotion cadre is circle-wide. In scientific organisations that promote through in-situ assessment, reservation in promotion often does not apply in the usual way, so check the scheme before raising a roster complaint at all.

Retired employees can bring roster claims too, if the error meant they retired in a lower grade. The relief is usually notional promotion and pension revision rather than arrears of pay for the past, and the delay has to be explained.

Mistakes on both sides

• Counting heads instead of points. The roster is post-based. A cadre can have the right number of reserved officers overall and still have a wrong promotion in a particular year, or the reverse.
• Ignoring the sanctioned strength. If the cadre was restructured, the roster must be redrawn. Calculations on the old strength will be wrong.
• Filing without the affected officers. A general category employee challenging excess reservation must make the reserved promotees parties, and a reserved employee must do the same with the unreserved promotee who took his point.
• Treating Commission letters as final orders. A recommendation from a Commission is useful but does not bind CAT, and waiting on it can eat into your limitation.
• Waiting years. Roster errors become harder to undo as officers move up. Courts are slow to disturb promotions that have settled for a long time, especially of people who were never told of the challenge.

A note on the period of ad hoc promotions

Between 2018 and 2022, while the Jarnail Singh matters were pending, the Supreme Court permitted the central government to make promotions in accordance with law, and many departments made promotions on an ad hoc basis or subject to the outcome of the case. After the 2022 judgment and OM, some of those promotions were regularised and others re-examined. If your promotion or your junior's promotion during that period was marked as subject to the outcome, the regularisation order is the document that now matters most.

Advocate B.K. Singh's view is that an employee should never assume an ad hoc promotion became regular on its own. Ask for the regularisation order and check the date it gives, because that date decides seniority and future eligibility. Our page on being left out by the DPC while juniors were promoted covers the general claim if you were left out in that period.

What to do now

Send an RTI for the roster register, the sanctioned strength and the 2022 cadre data this week. When it arrives, lay the points out in a table before you write a single complaint. If you have a benchmark disability, ask specifically for the PwBD promotion roster and the list of identified posts.

If the papers show an error, or the department refuses to share them, contact Advocate B.K. Singh for advice on your roster papers or updates on the reservation orders.