Karnataka HC upholds 25% promotion quota for diploma-holder engineers in KHB

The High Court of Karnataka has upheld the Karnataka Housing Board's (KHB) amended recruitment rules that provide a 25% quota for promotion of diploma-holder Assistant Executive Engineers (AEEs) to the Executive Engineer (EE) cadre. The court dismissed a batch of petitions filed by graduate AEEs who had challenged the new rules.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna, while dismissing the petitions, rejected the contention that the amended rules were arbitrary or violative of the Constitution. The KHB (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2022, introduced the quota, marking a significant departure from a practice that had been in place for over five decades, during which diploma-holder engineers could not be promoted beyond the post of AEE.

The petitioners, led by Vijay Shankar Deshinge and other graduate AEEs, argued that no statutory organisation or government service permits diploma holders to be promoted beyond the rank of AEE. They claimed that the new rules created a gross disparity by treating unequals as equals, as graduate and diploma-holder engineers were placed on the same promotional ladder.

In his order, the court observed that the object behind the amendment was neither obscure nor elusive. "It is to alleviate the stagnation that had overtaken diploma-holder AEEs who, notwithstanding decades of blemishless service, found the doors of further advancement permanently closed," the court said. The court noted that stagnation in public service has never been viewed by constitutional courts as a desirable incident of administration.

Examining the amended rules, the court found that they create two distinct promotion channels to EE posts. While 75% of vacancies are earmarked for degree-holder AEEs who have completed the mandatory three years of service in the cadre, the remaining 25% are reserved for diploma-holder AEEs who become eligible only after completing five years of service. The court stressed that this distinction is consciously preserved.

"A careful reading of the amended rules dispels any notion that graduate and diploma-holder engineers have been indiscriminately merged into a single stream. The distinction is consciously preserved. Educational qualifications continue to operate as the basis of classification. The period of qualifying service is separately prescribed. The quota itself is distinctly apportioned," the court observed.

The court further stated that the amendment merely introduces "a carefully calibrated promotional avenue for diploma-holder AEEs with the avowed object of mitigating career stagnation. Such an exercise, far from being arbitrary, reflects a conscious balancing of competing service interests."

Addressing the petitioners' claim that the rules violate Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law, the court held that the amendment withstands scrutiny. "It neither broods over palpable arbitrariness nor transgresses the mandate of Article 14," the court said.

The ruling is a significant relief for diploma-holder engineers employed with the KHB, a state government body responsible for housing projects across Karnataka. It opens a clear promotional pathway for them to reach the EE cadre, a position from which they were previously excluded due to the absence of educational qualifications.

The court's decision also underscores the principle that public authorities must address issues of career stagnation in a manner that balances the interests of different groups of employees. By upholding the quota, the court has affirmed that such measures, when carefully calibrated and non-arbitrary, can pass constitutional muster.