A 5 judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court today cleared the decks for a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe or SC/ST quota in govt job promotions by ruling that states no longer have to collect quantifiable data on ‘backwardness’ before introducing such a quota. While making this change the top court turned down an appeal to reconsider its own judgement of 2006 which had made collection of such data mandatory if state govts wished to give reservations in promotions in public sector jobs. So the Nagaraj judgement of 2006 stands minus this particular provision which had rendered it virtually impossible for govts to bring in any such quota. However today’s ruling is silent on another two provisions of the 2006 judgement which dealt with the adequacy of representation of SCs and STs in promotions and the need not to disturb administrative efficiency. This essentially means it is now up to the discretion of state Govts both the Centre and various state Govts had challenged the 2006 judgement on the grounds that it was unfair and impractical to ask for a collection of data to quantify the backwardness of members of the SC and ST communities. Since they were presumed to be backward and had historically faced neglect discrimination and stigma. They had argued that excluding the 'creamy layer' in SC/STs was becoming a hindrance and that they should be given reservations in promotions regardless. Those opposing a quota in promotions had argued that the presumption of backwardness of SC and ST people "vanishes" once they join a government service. They argued "once you are a Class-I officer. You cease to belong to the backward class and such reservations for IAS officers would violate the right to equality and equal opportunities in public employment”. The question is are we now going to see state Govts introduce a promotion quota? Would it be a step in the right direction or will it create grounds for resentment? Will this truly empower the SC/ST community or could it in fact adversely impact the efficiency of our govt officers? What about the debate on how the creamy layer is likely to corner the benefits? And most importantly will the SC/ST community continue to be exploited as a mere vote bank by our political class as is a strong perception?