Reserved category candidate who outscores general candidate can be appointed under open category: Andhra Pradesh High Court

A reserved category candidate who scores more marks than a general category candidate is entitled to be appointed under the unreserved category, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled recently. [Sandrapati Vijaya Kumar v. State of Andhra Pradesh].A Bench of Justices Ravi Nath Tilhari and V Srinivas granted relief to two reserved category candidates who were not appointed to a government job, either under the reserved category quota or the open category, despite scoring higher marks than the last selected candidate in the open category.The judges opined that both candidates should have been appointed under the open category since they scored higher than the last open category candidate..The judges added that by so treating the reserved category candidate as an open category appointee, the seats available in the reserved quota would remain intact for additional selection of reserved category candidates.“The selection of the reserved category candidates, based on their own merit to a post/seat in unreserved category cannot be counted against the quota reserved for the category to which they belong. Despite any number of opportunities belonging to reserved category of SC/ST/OBC against the general category posts, the given percentage of reservation has to be proceeded in addition,” the judgment stated..The case at hand concerned the recruitment of hostel welfare pfficers to the Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare Department in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh.The petitioner-candidates were not selected for the post, despite scoring higher marks than the last ranked person selected under the general or unreserved or open category..The Court rejected arguments by the State authorities that the selection of the writ petitioners under the general category would violate a 1975 Presidential Order that had called for prioritising the appointment of local candidates to 80 per cent of the posts.The Court noted that the writ petitioners were anyway local candidates from Krishna district. It added that the reservation extended to Backward Classes or Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe candidates was not inconsistent with the Presidential Order. As such, the Court concluded that there would be no violation of the Presidential Order in appointing the petitioners to the open category posts."The selected meritorious candidates (writ petitioners)…are the local candidates. So their shifting in the open category, based on their merit under 80%, would not reduce 80% for locals. That 80% would still be intact, only for locals…‘Reservation‘, does not only mean to follow the % of reservation fixed for the respective categories, but also the manner in which such reservation is to be implemented,” the judges held..The Court proceeded to allow the writ petitions and asked the State authorities to appoint the petitioners under the unreserved category..However, the judges also ordered that the earlier appointments made back in 2011 should not be disturbed given that these appointees had now been in service for many years and were not at fault in the matter..Advocates N Ravi Prasad and S Satyanarayana Rao appeared for the petitioners. Government Pleader Sumathi and Standing Counsel T Balakrishna appeared for the Social Welfare Department and the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission respectively..[Read Judgment]