Guwahati, Aug. 11: Dispur has decided to de-reserve vacant posts meant for promotion of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes candidates in government offices on the ground of maintaining administrative efficiency.

Sources said Dispur, in an office memorandum published last week, said if adequate number of ST or SC candidates are not found for promotion against vacant posts for two consecutive years then the appointing authority can write to the department of welfare of plains tribes and backward classes for de-reservation of those vacant posts.

The move comes amid complaints from groups like the All Assam Tribal Sabha that the state government has been following an anti-SC/ST policy in implementing reservation policies.

The memorandum said the government decided to review the reservation policy following a direction from Gauhati High Court in December last year. It also said reservation in promotions will continue in the state.

The state government was following the reservation policy based on a report by a one-man commission and as approved by the state cabinet. But the report was challenged by an organisation, Equality Forum, in the court. The court then struck down the earlier reservation policy.

All Assam Tribal Sagha secretary Aditya Khakhlary said the new reservation policy was against the vacancy-based policy. In vacancy-based policy if no eligible or adequate persons were found among the reserved category communities the posts are carried forward instead of de-reserving them. "Now, the state government has made way to de-reserve posts meant for STs or SCs in the name of administrative efficiency. The step will further deprive these communities," he said.

Khakhlary said the new policy is against the apex court's verdict in February, 1995, in the R.K. Sabharwal and Others vs State of Punjab and Others case. "In that case the apex court had said that the balance between reserved and general categories shall always be maintained following reservation policies."

A group of students belonging to ST and other backward classes today said they will protest in front of the office of the directorate of welfare of plains tribes and backward classes here on August 18 against irregularity in the release of scholarships to students of these communities. They said the government has not taken the issue seriously, deprived the students of scholarship. They said the matter had been brought to the government's notice several a times but in vain. "After several years the government released scholarships from 2009-10 to 2013-14 fiscal last year. But, the scholarships from financial year 2013-14 to 2015-16 has not been released yet," said Miltan Handique, one of the students.