NEW DELHI: Observing that anyone who lives inside India can never be considered an outsider in Delhi, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that people belonging to Scheduled Casts (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and migrated to the capital from other states cannot be denied benefit of the reservation in government jobs.

Although a five judge constitution bench held that a person notified as SC/ST in one state cannot claim same status in another state, it, however, ruled by majority of 4:1 that pan India reservation rule to be implemented in Delhi subordinate services which means that people from other states can avail the benefits of reservation like jobs in central government.

While Justices Justices Ranjan Gogoi, N V Ramana, M M Shantanagoudar and S Abdul Nazeer was of the opinion that pan India reservation rule is to be followed, Justice R Banumathi differed with the majority verdict and said that benefit of reservation in employment is to be extended only to those SCs/STs specified for the respective Union territories.

Writing the majority verdict, Justice Gogoi said that subordinate services in the National Capital Territory of Delhi are part of Central Civil Services and the reservation benefits must be extended to all and should not be restricted to SCs/STs specified in the Presidential Order of Delhi. He, however, did not examine the issue regarding to other Union Territories and left it for appropriate bench to adjudicate.

“We further hold that so far as the National Capital Territory of Delhi is concerned the pan India Reservation Rule in force is in accord with the constitutional scheme relating to services under the Union and the States/Union Territories,” the majority verdict said.

“These clearly are general Central Services and perhaps, it is owing to this state of affairs that the Union of India in its affidavit has stated that members of the Delhi Administrative Subordinate Services are the Feeder Cadre for Central Civil Services Group B (DANICS). It is for these reasons that the policy (of pan India eligibility) is consistently adopted,” the bench said while agreeing with Centre’s stand.

Justifying its decision for pan India rule for reservation in Delhi, the bench quoted a previous verdict of the apex court and said, “ The capital city is not just a part of India. It is miniaturised India, a fact often forgotten by the administration in the field of culture and education, especially vis a vis regional, minorities. It is megapolitan and people from all parts flock to this outsized city. But we cannot exaggerate this factor, for the presence of the farther regions like the South and the North-East, population-wise, is minimal and precarious.”

Dissenting with four judges, Justice Banumathi said, “ If pan India reservation is to be extended to UTs like Delhi, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands or Daman & Diu for Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ services for which recruitment are made by the respective UTs, the very object of the constitutional scheme of uplift of the SCs/STs of these UTs will be defeated. All India reservation to the services under UTs including Delhi will be against the mandate of Articles 341 and 342 of the constitution.”

She said that there could not be any distinction between the states and UTs on this issue. “Even though UTs are centrally administered, though the administrator/Lieutenant Governor so far as the administrative aspects of the UTs, each UT has its own identity. Each of the UTs would be bound by their respective Presidential Order of SCs/STs for giving benefit of reservation in employment.”

