Reservation For Women In Public Employment Can Only Be Horizontal, Not Vertical: Madras High Court To TNPSC

The Madras High Court has categorically held that the reservation for women in public employment can only be made horizontally and not vertically. The provisions stipulate that a minimum 30% of all the vacancies to be filled through direct recruitment shall be set apart for women candidates, irrespective of the fact whether the rule of reservation of appointment applies to the posts or not, and in respect of the posts to which the rule of reservation applies, 30% of vacancies shall be set apart for female candidates following the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Backward Class Muslims, Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes or Denotified communities and General Turn. The court considered this issue at length and after going through Articles 15 and 16 stressed that while Article 15 is a "special provision", reservation in public employment is dealt only under Article 16. Laying emphasis on the judgment in Indra Sawhney, the court observed as under: The aforesaid judgment of the Apex Court clarifies that reservation for women in public employment cannot be under Article 15 of the Constitution and Article 16 of the Constitution bars reservation on the ground of sex and all the reservations can be under Article 16 of the Constitution. The court thus suggested that the reservation in public employment is to be made following the decision in RajeshKumar Daria v. Rajasthan Public Service Commission and others, 8 SCC 785 wherein the court observed as under: The proper and correct course is to first fill up the OC quota on the basis of merit; then fill up each of the social reservation quotas i.e.