A.K. Pathak, J.@mdashVide order dated 21st May, 2009, the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (hereinafter referred
to as Tribunal) dismissed the Original Application No. 1433/2007 of the Petitioner. Aggrieved by this order, Petitioner has filed this writ petition
under Article 226 of the Constitution praying therein that the impugned order of the Tribunal be set aside and O.A. be allowed.
2. Factual matrix of the case, as emerges from the record, indicate that the Petitioner joined as a Direct Recruit Assistant in the Central Secretariat
Service. Subsequently, he appeared in the Section Officer Grade Limited Departmental Competitive Examination, 2003 (LDCE), conducted by
the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), as per the Recruitment Rules, applicable to the post of Section Officer. As per the Rules, 50% of
the vacancy in a recruitment year, were to be filled through the LDCE. In the said examination for the year 2003, UPSC declared 243 candidates
as successful for the promotion to the post of Section Officer. Thereafter, the Department of Personnel and Training (DOP&T), being the cadre
controlling authority requested the UPSC to release the additional list of repeat candidates of unreserved category. Pursuant to this request, UPSC
released an additional list of 3 unreserved candidates namely Mr. Jasbir Singh Negi, Mr. Ranjit Kumar Srivastava and Mr. Abhay Nandan Mishra.
3. Petitioner is a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate. He claimed that SC candidates, who had secured marks equivalent to the general standards, at
par with the unreserved candidates, were not adjusted against the unreserved vacancies. Had the adjustments been made, the SC vacancies would
have fallen vacant and the Petitioner could have been accommodated against one of such vacancies. In the list released by UPSC, the last
unreserved candidate namely Mr. Kumar Manoj Kashyap was shown at serial No. 210. Below him only SC/ST candidates were placed. By the
supplementary list furnished by the UPSC dated 15th February, 2007, Mr. Jasbir Singh Negi, Mr. Ranjit Kumar Srivastava and Mr. Abhay
Nandan Mishra were recommended and they belonged to unreserved category. Mr. Jasbir Singh Negi and Mr. Ranjit Kumar Srivastava were
placed between serial No. 213 and 214 and so far as Mr. Abhay Nandan Mishra is concerned, he was placed between serial No. 222 and 223,
thereby he became last unreserved candidate. Petitioner claimed that the SC candidates above serial No. 222, having secured higher marks, were
necessarily required to be accommodated against the unreserved vacancy and in such an eventuality Petitioner being a SC candidate would have
been eligible for the post of Section Officer in the SC category.
4. As against this, case of the Respondent was that the last unreserved candidate was placed at serial No. 210 which was later on brought down
to the level of Mr. A.N. Mishra an unreserved repeat candidate. 12 candidates in SC/ST categories between the serial No. 210 and Mr. A.N.
Mishra, were not entitled to unreserved vacancies as they had attained that position in the list on relaxed criteria. They did not fulfil the standard set
in the written part of LDCE of 200 marks, duly approved by the UPSC for unreserved candidates. All the SC/ST candidates beyond serial No.
210 were placed in the list as per the relaxed standard, accordingly, SC candidates below the rank of 210 till Mr. A.N. Mishra could not have
been adjusted against the unreserved vacancies. SC candidates had already availed the relaxed standard, as per the examination rules and were to
be placed against reserved posts. Therefore, they cannot claim unreserved posts.
5. Tribunal called for the records of UPSC regarding the LDCE including the marks list of 4 questioned unreserved and 11 SC and 1 ST
candidates to verify as to whether the standards were relaxed in the case of SC/ST candidates below the serial No. 210 or not. Tribunal found that
the standard set for unreserved category of 200 marks in written examination, was relaxed in case of all the 11 SC and 1 ST candidates, who
were placed below the last unreserved category candidate namely Mr. Kumar Manoj Kashyap. Tribunal found that these 11 SC and 1 ST
candidates had secured less marks in written examination. Tribunal considered the additional affidavit by the UPSC as also the records produced
before it and summarised the position of unreserved, SC/ST candidates from the serial No. 210 onwards, which for the sake of ready reference, is
reproduced as under:
Rank Candidate''s Name Community Qualified under Category
No.
210 Kumar Manoj KashyaopGeneral General in the Main List
211 Inder Jeet SC SC at relaxed standard in
Main List
212 Shakti Shamsher SC -do-
213 Biplab Kumar Naskar SC -do-
214 Jasbir Singh Negi General General in Supplementary
List
215 Ranjit Kumar Srivastava General General in
Supplementary List
216 Kuldip Kumar SC SC at relaxed standard in
Main List
217 M. Jena SC -do-
218 Sunil Kumar SC -do-
219 Rajesh Kumar SC -do-
220 Amrish Kumar SC -do-
221 Bipin Kumar Hembrom ST ST at relaxed standard in
Main List
222 Lakshmi Kanta Halder SC SC at relaxed standard in
Main List
223 Raj Kumar SC -do-
224 Rohtas Bhankhar SC -do-
225 Abhay Nandan Mishra General General in Supplementary
List
226 Sahdev Singh SC SC at relaxed standard in
Main List
227 Pradip Kumar Pal SC -do-
228 Deen Dayal SC -do-
229 Lakhmi Chand SC -do-
230 Rajinder Kumar SC -do-
231 Rachna SC -do-
232 Dharkat Rungsung ST ST at relaxed standard in
Luikang Main List
233 Ashish Kumar TarachandSC SC at relaxed standard in
Main List
234 Sneh Lata SC -do-
235 Shankar Lal Bairwa SC -do-
236 Sudheer Babu Motana SC -do-
237 Naresh Kumar SC -do-
238 Nithali Ram SC -do-
239 Surendra Kumar SC -do-
240 Sunita SC -do-
241 Rajesh Kumar Gujar SC -do-
242 Anjan Biswas SC -do-
243 Yogesh R. Patel ST ST at relaxed standard in
Main List
244 Yoginder Kumar SC SC at relaxed standard in
Main List
6. Tribunal also took note of Rule 8 of the Examination Rules for holding that SC candidates could not have been treated as unreserved candidates
as they had attained their position in the list below Mr. Kumar Manoj Kashyap, on the basis of relaxed standards and thus could not have been
placed against the unreserved vacancies.
7. We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties. We do not find any error in the impugned order of the Tribunal, which has been passed on
the basis of records produced before it, as well as the rule position.
8. The Rule 8 of the Examination Rules reads as under:
8(i) After the examination, candidates will be arranged by the commission in the order of merit as disclosed by the aggregate marks finally awarded
to each candidate; and in that order so many candidates as are found by the Commission to be qualified at the examination shall be recommended
for inclusion in the select list for each category up to the required number.
(ii) The candidates belonging to the any of the Scheduled Caste or the schedule Tribe may to the extent of the number of vacancies reserved for
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe be recommended by the Commission by relaxed standard, subject to the fitness of these candidates for
inclusion in the select list for each category irrespective of their ranks in the order of merit at the examination.
Provided that the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes who have been recommended by the Commission without
resorting to any relaxation/concession in the eligibility or selection criteria, at any stage of examination, shall not be adjusted against the vacancies
reserved for Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes.
9. Proviso to sub rule (ii), quoted above clearly shows that in case SC/ST candidate attains his position in the merit list without resorting to any
relaxed eligibility criteria then he would be eligible to an unreserved post. In this case, the SC/ST candidates shown below Mr. Kumar Manoj
Kashyap had attained ranking in the select list, on the basis of the relaxed standards and cannot claim their appointment on an unreserved post.
10. Tribunal has returned a categorical finding in this regard, on the basis of records produced before it in support of the plea taken in the counter
affidavit/additional affidavit filed by the Respondent. Accordingly, we have no reason to disbelieve the plea taken by the Respondent which is
supported by the records of examination.
11. We do not find any error in the view taken by the Tribunal that the reserved category candidates below Mr. Kumar Manoj Kashyap were not
eligible to be placed against the unreserved vacancies, as they had attained that position on the basis of the relaxed standards. These reserved
category candidates had attained lesser marks in the written examination of LDCE than the unreserved candidates and thus were not eligible to be
qualified or accommodated against the unreserved post of Section Officer.
12. It is worth mentioning here that name of the Petitioner does not find mention in the select list, even after relaxed standard of eligibility criteria for
SC candidates.
13. In the light of the above discussions we do not find any merit in this writ petition.
14. Dismissed.