Reserved category candidates should be considered as general candidates if they score high marks: Supreme Court
New Delhi:The Supreme Court in a recent order clarified that if a reserved category candidate, without availing any relaxation or concession, outperforms general category candidates, such a candidate must be treated as competing for open posts in the recruitment process.
The court held that when the cut-off marks for reserved categories (Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, and Economically Weaker Section) are higher than the cut-off for the general category, then those from the reserved category who clear the general cut-off should be included in the general quota for government jobs. Reiterating that the general category is "open to all" irrespective of caste, class, or gender, the top court has solidified its earlier stance against excluding reserved category candidates from the general list.
The court noted that a previous landmark ruling (the Saurav Yadav case) had opined that "the open category is open to all, and the only condition for a candidate to be shown in it is merit, regardless of whether the reservation benefit of either type is available to her or him."The same has a profound meaning and needs to be translated into action without being unnecessarily bothered by a term like "migration", the court clarified. In its latest order upholding the Rajasthan High Court verdict, the Supreme Court took inspiration from the "guiding light" provided by its own landmark verdicts in the Indra Sawhney and Saurav Yadav cases.
The court concluded that the word 'open' connotes nothing but 'open', meaning thereby that vacant posts that are sought to be filled by earmarking them as 'open' do not fall in any category. "One does find categories like 'open' or 'unreserved' or 'general' being widely used in the course of recruitment drives, but they are meant to signify the open/unreserved vacant posts on which any suitable candidate can be appointed, regardless of the caste/tribe/class/gender of such candidate," the Supreme Court clarified.
The court further said that for all intents and purposes, the vacancies on posts that are notified/advertised as open or unreserved or general, as the terms suggest, are not reserved for any caste/tribe/class/gender and are, thus, open to all, notwithstanding that a cross-section of society can also compete for appointment on vacant posts that are 'reserved' - vertical or horizontal - as mentioned in the notification/advertisement.