LI Network
Published on: January 17, 2024 at 12:40 IST
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has declared the practice of categorizing candidates based on their reserved categories during the selection process as illegal.
The Court’s decision came in response to a petition seeking to annul the results of the Post Graduate Teacher (PGT) Screening Test, specifically challenging the examination scheme for PGT-Mathematics on grounds of violating Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.
The petitioner, who applied for the position as a backward-class category candidate, contended that the examination scheme contradicted established principles of reservation.
The argument asserted that reserved category candidates should be considered for unreserved or general posts, especially when they outperformed many candidates from the general category based on merit.
Represented by Advocate Vivek Salathia, the petitioner brought attention to the violation of the rule of migration in reservation.
Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya, in a single-bench decision, clarified that categorizing candidates during the selection process based on their reserved categories is contrary to the rule of migration. This rule presupposes equal opportunity and a level playing field in assessing the comparative merit of candidates.
The Court emphasized that meritorious reserved category candidates should be allowed to compete on an equal footing for open/unreserved posts.
The Court highlighted that categorizing candidates within their respective reserved categories subjected them to a restrictive competition, different from the unreserved candidates.
The correct approach, as outlined by the court, involves drawing the final merit list based on reserved categories and considering meritorious reserved category candidates first for selection against open/unreserved posts.
The examination scheme under scrutiny, however, confined candidates to their reserved categories, denying them the opportunity to be considered for open-category posts based on merit.
In the case titled Parmila v. State of Haryana & Anr. (2024:PHHC:000733), the High Court ruled in favor of the petitioner, deeming the scheme of the examination and subsequent selections to be inconsistent with the rule of reservation.
