Supreme Court lifts Uttarakhand High Court stay on 30 percent domicile reservation for women in State Services Exam

The Supreme Court on Friday lifted the the stay imposed by the Uttarakhand High Court on the government order (GO) which provides 30 per cent reservation in State services for women domiciled in the State [State of Uttarakhand v Pavitra Chauhan]..A bench comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian sought the respondent's reply on the Uttarakhand government's plea which challenged the August 24 order of the High Court .The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission had, by way of a notification dated August 10, 2021, advertised the Uttarakhand Combined State (Civil)/Pravar Sub-Ordinate Service Examination 2021 and listed 224 vacancies for various posts in about 31 departments.In clause (8) of the advertisement notification, it was mentioned that horizontal reservation would not be applicable to women who were not domiciled in the State..The petitioners before the High Court had challenged the government order on the ground that it created an Unreserved Uttarakhand Mahila Category which provided lower cut-off marks for women of the State to pass the preliminary examination.It was argued that the reservation deprived them of appearing in the main examination as they couldn't clear the prelims despite getting more marks than women who could avail the reservation.The petitioners further submitted that the State government did not have the power to provide domicile-based reservation and that the Constitution of India only allowed reservation on the basis of domicile only by a law enacted by the parliament.A division bench comprising the High Court's Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe had stayed the government order (GO) dated July 24, 2006 and allowed the petitioners to appear in the main examination..The State then moved the Supreme Court contending that the interim order was tantamount to passing final relief."The High Court in the grab of interim relief has granted final relief at interim stage, especially when no prima facie case has been made out by the party asking for the said relief, is not sustainable,” the appeal filed by the State said.The plea also said that the order provides for 'geographical classification' on the basis of place of residence which is permissible under the Constitution..Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Standing Counsel Vanshaja Shukla, with advocates Rachna Gandh and Sajal Singhai appeared for the State of Uttarakhand. [Read order]