New Delhi: The Supreme Court has given a historic clarification on the reservation rules and said that if a candidate from reserved category scores more than the general category cut-off, he should be given appointment on a general (open) seat. A bench of Justices MM Sundaresh and Satish Chandra Sharma clarified that it is now an established principle of law that meritorious reserved category candidates cannot be restricted to their category only.
The court said that such candidates will be treated at par with the general category, which will keep reserved category seats available for other needy candidates. The court made this observation while setting aside the 2020 judgment of the Kerala High Court, in which the Airports Authority of India was asked to exclude meritorious reserved candidates from the general list.
The Supreme Court reiterated that the ‘open category’ is not reserved for any particular caste, but is based on merit and everyone can compete in it.
However, the court also indicated that if a candidate has availed the benefit of reservation (such as age relaxation) at any stage of the examination, then the rules may be different. The decision is being seen as promoting transparency and merit in government recruitments across the country.