The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of a 2017 Karnataka government order granting reservation in promotions to government employees from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. The court said the law does not lead to usurpation of judicial power by the state legislature, Live Law reported.

“We have come to the conclusion that the challenge to the law is lacking substance,” IANS quoted Justices UU Lalit and DY Chandrachud as saying.

The Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (To the Posts in the Civil Services of the State) Act, 2017 received President Ram Nath Kovind’s assent last year. On March 6, the top court had reserved its judgement on a series of petitions challenging the order.

In September, a Constitutional bench had amended a 2006 order that required states to show quantifiable data to prove the backwardness of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community before providing quotas in promotions. The bench of former Chief Justice Dipak Misra, and Justices Kurien Joseph, RF Nariman, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Indu Malhotra had said there was no need to provide any such quantifiable data.