In Brief
The Supreme Court examined whether the State of Uttarakhand must provide reservations in promotions to Assistant Engineer posts in favour of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Court held that Articles 16(4) and 16(4-A) of the Constitution are enabling, not mandatory provisions—the State has discretion to provide or deny reservations and no court can compel it to do so. While quantifiable data showing inadequacy of representation is required if the State chooses to provide reservations, the State need not collect such data merely to justify a decision to deny them. The Court set aside High Court judgments directing the State to collect data and to fill vacancies exclusively from reserved categories, affirming that reservation policy remains a matter of State discretion subject only to limited judicial scrutiny for arbitrariness.
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