Vacant SC/ST seats can not go to general list
February 4, 2010: The Times of India
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has held that general category candidates who crack competitive exams and get waitlisted cannot be accommodated against reserved category seats even if these are lying vacant. The merit list for general category is just for that category, the court held in its fresh intervention in the “merit-versus-social justice¶ debate.
The ruling came in a case of appointment of district judges in the Delhi Judicial Services. Aggrieved candidates alleged that after filling up the 13 posts notified for general category, there were vacancies in the reserved category and hence those on the top of the merit-cum-wait list be considered for these posts.
A Bench of CJI K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B S Chauhan rejected the petitions, saying it would be patently illegal to appoint persons in excess of the notified vacancies.
Quota Prevails
-20 posts for Delhi district judges announced in May 2007 — 13 for general, 7 for SC/STs
-General seats filled up but 2 SC and 4 ST posts were vacant
-SC says advertised number of general posts filled up. Wait list to be ‘‘consigned to record room’’ despite SC/ST vacancies
Waiting list can’t be used as reservoir: SC
New Delhi: The apex court on Wednesday moved to safeguard reserved category posts from being opened up to general category claimants. “Any appointment made beyond the number of vacancies advertised is without jurisdiction, being violative of Articles 14 and 16(1) of the Constitution, thus a nullity, inexecutable and unenforceable in law,¶ said Justice B S Chauhan, writing the judgment for a Bench comprising him, CJI K G Balakrishnan and Justice Deepak Verma.
“In case the vacancies notified stands filled up, process of selection comes to an end. Waiting list cannot be used as a reservoir, to fill up the vacancies which come into existence after the issuance of notification or advertisement,¶ the Bench said. In the case in hand, only 13 vacancies for general category were advertised, hence once that was filled up, there was no scope for looking at the wait list for filling any vacancy arising in the reserved category or otherwise, the Bench said.
