Reservation for SCs, STs not must at prelims: SC

Observing that vacancies are not filled by "charity", the Supreme Court has said the government is not under any Constitutional obligation to provide reservation to SCs, STs etc, in preliminary tests conducted for filling up official posts. "Judging of merit may be at several tiers. It may undergo several filtrations. Ultimately, the constitutional scheme is to have the candidates who would be able to serve the society and discharge the functions attached to the office. Vacancies are not filled up by way of charity," the apex court said. A bench of Justices S B Sinha and Cyriac Joseph said preliminary examination is not a part of the main examination and as such the rule of reservation available to socially- disadvantaged sections cannot be insisted on at a threshold stage. "The merit of the candidate is not judged thereby. Only an eligibility criterion is fixed. The papers for holding the examination (preliminary) comprise of General Studies and Mental Ability. Such a test must be held to be necessary for the purpose of judging the basic eligibility of the candidates to hold the tests," the apex court said. The apex court passed the observation while rejecting the contention of certain reserved category students who challenged the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission's (APPSC) refusal to provide reservation benefits at the preliminary exam stage for appointments of Deputy Collectors, Commercial Tax Officers and other Group-I posts. For filling up 196 posts, the Commission had conducted a preliminary test for which 1,68,000 candidates applied. At this stage, no reservation benefit was extended as the same was to be applied only at the main examination stage for which 9,800 candidates were shortlisted. However, some of the reserved category candidates who were unsuccessful at the preliminary exam moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court which ruled that the rule of reservation should be applied even for the preliminary exam. Aggrived by the ruling, the public service commission filed the appeal in the apex court. Upholding the commission's rule the apex court said "lowering of marks for the candidates belonging to reserved candidates is not a constitutional mandate at the threshold. It is permissible only for the purpose of promotion. Those who possess the basic eligibility would be entitled to appear at the main examination." According to the Bench, the disadvantaged group or socially-backward people may not be able to compete with the open category people but that would not mean that they would not be able to pass the basic minimum criteria laid down therefore.

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