Aastha Thakur
Published on: 04 November 2022 at 20:03 IST
The Delhi High Court, all candidates who belong to one of the reserved categories that have been notified by a Presidential Order in any state or union territory are eligible for the benefit of reservation for supervisory roles in Delhi.
The division bench of Justices Vibhu Bakhru and Amit Mahajan, stated that decisions of the Supreme Court “authoritatively conclude” that a person who belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe in one state is not eligible for benefits provided to the reserved categories in another.
The court said that the decisions of court regarding services under the National Capital Territory, hold that the rule of pan-India reservation would be applicable. The order stated:
“Insofar as the services under the National Capital Territory of Delhi are concerned, the decision in the case of Bir Singh v. Delhi Jal Board & Ors. (supra) and Deepak Kumar & Ors. v. District and Sessions Judge, Delhi and Ors. (supra) hold that the rule of pan-India reservation would be applicable.”
“Thus, all candidates belonging to reserved categories notified by the Presidential Order in any State or Union Territory would be entitled to benefit of reservation in the subordinate services in the National Capital Territory of Delhi,”
The Delhi High Court establishment’s decision to not recommend for appointment applicants who failed to provide any documentation proving their residency in Delhi or on the basis that their caste certificates were issued outside of the nation’s capital was being contested by a number of petitions before the bench.
These candidates were contesting for a reserved category position of Court Attendant/Room Attendant (Group-C).
The court noted after carefully weighing the arguments on both sides that the Delhi High Court’s establishment had in this matter denied the petitioners the benefit of reservation only on the grounds that they had not been able to submit documents proving they were normally residents of Delhi.
The judges observed that all citizens of this country were invited to submit applications under the terms of the in-question announcement, regardless of where they resided.
The Bench explained that it is also not true that members of the SC/ST community from another state are ineligible to apply for the position at the High Court.
Further, it was stated that there was no requirement for a general category candidate to demonstrate that he was ordinarily a resident of Delhi in order to be eligible for the position and that this requirement had only been made for candidates who were claiming reservation due to their membership in the SC and ST communities.
The Court said that, “This Court is unable to find any basis for such disqualification; the Notification did not provide for any such qualification,”
A candidate who can provide a certificate attesting to their identity in a SC/ST community cannot be denied the benefit of reservation as indicated by the High Court’s notification, it was said, because the rule of pan-India reservation is applicable in Delhi.
The Bench thus granted the petitions and instructed the High Court organization to take into consideration the petitioners’ appointment to the advertised positions under the quota for candidates from the reserved category, without needing the petitioners to demonstrate that they are ordinarily residents of Delhi.