NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and economically weaker sections will be eligible for general category posts if they secure the minimum marks set for the general category.The verdict by Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine G Masih was based on SC’s landmark verdict in the Indra Sawhney case in 1992, which had given 27% reservation to OBCs in government positions. The bench rejected a petition filed by Rajasthan HC that while recruiting candidates for certain posts, it had disqualified candidates from reserved categories from being appointed to general category posts despite scoring more marks than the cut-off marks fixed for the general category.When a HC division bench ruled in favor of reserved category candidates seeking consideration for general category posts, HC moved against SC, arguing that considering reserved category candidates for general category posts would amount to giving them double benefits. In his judgment, Justice Datta said, “We are of the opinion that the word ‘open’ means nothing other than ‘open’, which means that vacancies sought to be filled by the tag ‘open’ do not fall into any category.”Upholding the HC division bench’s decision, SC said, “Availability of reservation is not a bar to a reserved category candidate being considered on the basis of his performance as compared to the unreserved category.”The recruitment process for HC was based on a written test followed by an interview. SC said if a reserved category candidate gets more marks than the minimum marks prescribed for the general category, he should be considered to belong to the general category while appearing for the interview. If the total score is below the general category cutoff, they will be considered in the reserved category to which they belonged.
