Meritorious Reserved Candidates Entitled to Open Category Seats: Top Court

The Supreme Court on Friday said that candidates from reserved categories who secure higher marks than the general category cutoff must be adjusted against unreserved seats.

Reaffirming the landmark legal principle, a bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma said, "It is now a settled proposition of law that a candidate belonging to reserve category (SC, ST and OBC) who has scored marks higher than the cut off marks for the General Category is to be treated as having qualified against an open or unreserved vacant post." The bench made the observations while setting aside a 2020 judgment by the Kerala High Court, which had previously directed the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to appoint an unreserved candidate by excluding meritorious reserved category (MRC) candidates from the general list.

Justice Sharma, who authored the judgment, said the "unreserved" category is not a "quota" for general candidates but an "open" pool available to all based strictly on merit.

The verdict said that this "Merit Induced Shift" is a requirement of Article 14 (equality before law) and Article 16 (equality of opportunity in public employment).

When a reserved category candidate outperforms general candidates without using any concessions (like age or fee relaxations), they must be counted as an "open" candidate, it said.

This, in turn, keeps the reserved quota seats available for the next most meritorious candidates within that specific reserved category, it said.

The dispute originated from a 2013 recruitment drive by the AAI for 245 posts of Junior Assistant (Fire Service).

Following the selection process, the AAI filled 122 unreserved seats by including both general category candidates and meritorious candidates from OBC, SC and ST backgrounds.

Sham Krishna B, an unreserved category candidate who was placed at Serial No 10 on the waiting list, challenged this process.

He argued that reserved category candidates should be restricted to their respective quotas, which would have moved him up into a permanent appointment.

The Kerala High Court previously ruled in his favour, finding the AAI's selection process "vitiated" and ordering his appointment.

However, the top court has now overturned that decision.

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