Hon’ble Supreme Court in its Judgement dated 09.01.2015 has directed for reservation in promotion instead of concession within Group A Services carrying ultimate salary of ₹ 5700/- per month upto Scale 6 which has been reversed in its Judgement dated 08.01.2016.

The directions of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s Judgement dated 09.01.2015 and 08.01.2016 has been considered by the Government and found that based on overall percentage representation of SC/ST vis-à-vis number of employee in Group A in Public Sector Banks/Financial Institutions/Public Sector Insurance Companies is 17.79% and 7.53% respectively which is fulfilling condition of percentage of 15% and 7.5% required as per the existing reservation policy of Government of India. Instruction to clarify the representation of SCs/STs in Group-A posts in Banks were issued on 20.10.2016.

The Public Sector Banks (PSBs) were clarified on 18.02.2014 that concessions mentioned in DoP&T’s O.M. dated 07.06.2013 will be available to the SC/ST officers in PSBs in promotion by selection to posts within the officer cadre up to Middle Management Grade Scale-III or Grade-C (lowest three rungs in officers’ cadres), whichever is applicable.

Representations from some SC/ST Associations were received and got examined in consultation with DoPT. DoPT has informed that at present there is no proposal under consideration to review the existing instructions.

This was stated by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

Reservation in promotion upheld where SC/ST representation meets policy thresholds; existing bank promotion concessions remain in force. The Government concluded that SC/ST representation in Group A posts in Public Sector Banks and similar institutions meets existing reservation thresholds; existing DoP&T concessions for promotion by selection up to Middle Management Grade Scale III (or the lowest three rungs of officer cadres) continue to apply, and DoPT reports no proposal to review the current instructions.