india

Updated: Jan 23, 2019 00:02 IST

Reservation in facility positions should be applied department-wise and not in the university as a unit, the Supreme Court held on Tuesday while upholding an Allahabad High Court ruling on the subject.

A bench led by Justice UU Lalit dismissed Centre’s petition challenging the April 2017 high court order.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta questioned argued that State was obliged to make special provisions for reservation in appointments or posts in favour of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community if they are not adequately represented in the State services.

If vacancies are calculated department-wise then it will reduce the number of seats for the reserved category and defeat the object of the reservation policy, Mehta said.

The high court had held that if University is taken as a unit for every level of teaching for reservation then it would result in some departments or subjects having all reserved candidates and some having unreserved. This would violate articles 14 (equality) and 16 (equal opportunity in matters of employment).

Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who argued for the respondents supporting the high court order, pointed to the Supreme Court’s January 2017 decision that upheld another Allahabad high court verdict of April 2009, which also said that “the rules of reservation and roster shall be applied collegewise and subject-wise when there are plurality of post.”

The high court ruling had come on a petition questioning the Banaras Hindu University’s notification to follow the roster system cadre-wise instead of applying it department-wise.