How the Supreme Court Blocked Attempts to Dilute Merit Under the Open Category
In Saurav Yadav v State of Uttar Pradesh, the apex courtâs three-judge bench explained how merit is served by permitting candidates belonging to reserved categories compete with âgeneralâ candidates.
Photo: Pariplab Chakraborty
Last Fridayâs judgment by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in
Those who oppose reservations of any kind are inclined to find merit in the argument that reservations per se are opposed to merit, and therefore, likely to compromise efficiency in public service. Therefore, the critics of reservation are likely to endorse the view that the open category, which is free of reservation of any kind, must be available only to candidates who are not the beneficiaries of any reservations, so that merit is accommodated to the extent possible.
Satya Prakash
New Delhi, December 19
Maintaining that general category vacancies in government employment were open to all, including those from reserved categories, the Supreme Court has said disallowing meritorious candidates from reserved categories to migrate to general category would amount to communal reservation.
“The principle that candidates belonging to any of the vertical reservation categories are entitled to be selected in “Open or General Category” is well settled. It is also well accepted that if such candidates belonging to reserved categories are entitled to be selected on the basis of their own merit, their selection cannot be counted against the quota reserved for the categories for vertical reservation that they belong,” a Bench of Justice UU Lalit, Justice Ravindra Bhat and Justice Hrishikesh Roy said.