Quota candidates with more marks are entitled to General category seats: SC

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The Supreme Court on Thursday said that candidates belonging to the Other Backward Class (OBC) category are required to be adjusted against the general category, when they prove more meritorious than the last of the general category candidates appointed.

The apex court said in such circumstances, the appointments of OBC candidates could not have been considered against the seats available in the reserved category.

The top court said that consequently, after considering their appointments in the general category, the seats meant for the reserved category were required to be filled in from and amongst the other remaining reserved category candidates on merit.

A bench of Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna relied on various verdicts of the top court including Indra Sawhney Versus Union of India of 1992, popularly called Mandal Commission verdict, while dealing with a case of two OBC category candidates seeking the job in the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Relying on the verdicts, the top court accepted the arguments of senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a quota candidate, that the reserved category candidates having obtained more marks than the last candidate in general category candidates will have to be adjusted against the general category quota and they were required to be considered in the general category pool, thereby the remaining candidates belonging to the reserved category were required to be appointed against the quota meant for reserved category.

The bench said, “Applying the law laid down by this Court in the decisions to the facts of the case on hand, it is noted that the aforesaid two candidates, namely, Alok Kumar Yadav and Dinesh Kumar, belonging to the OBC category, were required to be adjusted against the general category as admittedly they were more meritorious than the last of the general category candidates appointed and that their appointments could not have been considered against the seats meant for reserved category”.