Supreme Court On Reservation Category and General Category: The Supreme Court has put a full stop to the long ongoing debate regarding reservation and merit in government jobs. The apex court, while giving a historic and far-reaching verdict, has made it clear that reserved category (SC, ST, OBC and EWS) candidates are also entitled to get jobs on general category seats, provided they achieve the 'cutoff' marks of general category in merit.
This decision is not only a big victory for the meritorious students of the reserved category, but it also redefines the definition of general category seats.
This case was related to a recruitment process of Rajasthan High Court. Rajasthan High Court had conducted recruitment for some posts, in which they had made a rule that reserved category candidates will not be appointed to general category seats, even if their marks are more than the general cutoff. The High Court's argument was that if general seats were given to the reserved category, it would be like giving them double benefit - first of reservation and second of general seat.
Supreme Court rejected the argument
The Supreme Court rejected this argument outright. The bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Augustine G Masih, while rejecting the petition of Rajasthan High Court, said that merit should be respected.
'Open' means for everyone
The Supreme Court cited the historic Indira Sawhney decision of 1992. Justice Dutta made a strong comment and said, 'We believe that the word 'Open' only means open. That is, the seats which are to be filled under open category are not the property of any particular caste or class. They are for everyone. The court made it clear that the availability of reservation cannot prevent a meritorious reserved candidate from being selected on the basis of merit on an unreserved seat.
How will this rule be implemented?
The Supreme Court has made the situation very clear regarding the recruitment process: -
- Written Examination: If a reserved category (SC/ST/OBC) candidate scores more marks than the general category cutoff in the written examination, he/she will be considered as 'General Category' candidate at the time of interview.
- Final Merit: If his/her total marks in the final result is less than the cutoff of General Category, then he/she will be counted back in his/her original Reserved Category so that he/she can get the benefit of reservation.
