A division bench of Patna High Court on Thursday upheld the decision of a single bench, which had quashed the state government order of giving reservation to its SC/ST employees in promotion.

The court was of the view that reservation as a policy cannot be continued for an indefinite period and that it has to be reviewed from time to time.

The decision comes as a setback to the Nitish Kumar government, which had faced fire from the Opposition for "misrepresenting facts in the court" when the single bench quashed the order giving reservation benefits in promoting the SC and ST employees.

The order was passed by a division bench of Chief Justice L. Narasimha Reddy and Justice Sudhir Singh. On July 22, the same court had reserved its order in the case.

On May 4, the state government suffered a setback as a single bench of Justice Vijayendra Nath, while hearing a petition filed by aggrieved general category employee Sushil Kumar Singh and others, had quashed the state government's decision to provide reservation benefits to the SC and ST employees in promotion, saying the same was done without taking into consideration the overall backwardness of both the castes.

The decision of the single bench was challenged by the state government on May 18.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Reddy, while giving its verdict, said: "The appeal is being dismissed."

Reacting to the court's order on Thursday, principal additional advocate general Lalit Kishore said: "We will challenge the decision of the division bench before the Supreme Court." He declined further comments, saying: "First, we have to go through the court's order."

The petitioner's lawyer, Vindhyachal Singh, said: "The high court said that the state had failed to contemplate the overall administrative efficiency due to be impacted upon by this reservation policy." The court was of the view that reservation should not be provided at the cost of efficiency of administration as the same amounts to erosion of public interest, Vindhyachal said.

Vindhyachal made a reference of M. Nagaraj vs Union of India (October 2006) case in which the Supreme Court had ruled that the state must demonstrate backwardness, inadequacy of representation and maintenance of efficiency before providing reservation in promotions, which the Bihar government failed to do. The high court on Thursday affirmed the same.

The division bench also held that reservation benefits to the SC/STs in promotion to higher posts in government services were done without any sufficient data and conducting proper survey. The bench ruled: "The state failed to furnish sufficient valid data to justify the move to promote employees on caste basis."

The Supreme Court had held in the M. Nagaraj, Indra Sawhney and various other cases that reservation in promotions can be provided only if there is sufficient data and evidence to justify the need.

The bench, while upholding the decision of the single bench, also took on account the applicability of "ceiling limit" and "creamy layer" before providing reservation to the SC/STs in promotions as the high court held that the Supreme Court had, in its earlier judgment, clearly stated that both these factors would apply while providing reservation in promotions.

The state government had issued a notification in August 2012, ensuring reservation in promotion for the SC/ST employees in government services. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by chief minister Nitish Kumar. Nitish had then said: "Members of the SC/ST must get reservation in promotion. Despite numerous welfare measures and reservation in jobs, the condition of SC/ST people has not improved to a level that reservation in promotion be discontinued."

In fact, Bihar government had decided to continue with the policy of quota in promotion, with consequential seniority, to the members of SC/ST even before the then Union government in 2012. While the Union cabinet, headed by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the proposal for making provisions of quotas for SC/STs in promotions on September 4, 2012, the Bihar cabinet cleared a similar proposal on August 17, 2012.