Uttarakhand sets up panel on promotion policy

Dehra Dun, Jul 28 (PTI) The Uttarakhand government has constituted a cabinet sub-committee to study the recent high court order which has declared the provision of caste based promotion in government services as "unconstitutional", official sources said today. A decision to this effect was taken by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna during a meeting with the delegation of Uttarakhand Adhikari-Karmachari-Shikshak Sangharsh Morcha at his residence last night, the sources said. The five-member cabinet panel comprises of parliamentary affairs minister Indira Hridayesh, Revenue minister Yashpal Arya, Agriculture minister Harak Singh Rawat, Food and Civil Supplies minister Pritam Singh and Drinking Water minister Mantri Prasad Naithani. The panel has been asked to give its report within one month period. Bahuguna said that it was a constitutional responsibility of his government to follow the court orders. He said the system prevailing in other states would be also be studied before taking a final decision. Meanwhile, the government employees had been resorting to agitation holding protest marches in the state asking the government to implement promotion policy on the basis of the high court's recent verdict. A division bench of the Uttarakhand High Court has recently observed that the caste based promotion without following the judgement of the Supreme Court on the issue cannot be held valid.