Bringing clarity

Before he retired on May 11, Chief Justice of India K.G. They contended that reserved category candidates who made it to the Merit List should be adjusted against the general vacancies as that would allow more posts for OBC candidates and a better choice of service for lower-ranked OBC candidates. The Bench reasoned that if the MRCs are adjusted against the reserved category vacancies with respect to their higher preferences of cadre and posts and the seats vacated by them in the general category are further allotted to other reserved category candidates, the aggregate reservation could possibly exceed 50 per cent of all the available posts, which would be against the Supreme Court's ruling in Indra Sawhney vs Union of India. The Bench explained that a reserved candidate, by doing well enough in the examination to qualify in the open category, did not automatically rescind his/her right to a post in the reserved category. Since one-third of the seats reserved for S.Cs/S.Ts/OBCs were to be reserved for women belonging to the same categories, the seats earmarked for women belonging to the general category should not be accounted for if one were to gauge whether the upper ceiling of 50 per cent had been breached, the Bench explained.