Quashing the latest cadre allocation policy, the Delhi High Court has directed the Centre to undertake the exercise of the cadre allocation of IAS and IPS officers of the 2017 batch.

The High Court’s decision came on plea filed by some successful IAS and IPS candidates contending that the Centre has not allocated the cadres to them as per their declared policy of merit-cum-preference.

“We agree with the petitioners that the interpretation and implementation of the Cadre Allocation Policy – 2017 resorted to by the respondents (Centre) is unreasonable and arbitrary since the more meritorious candidates have been denied the cadres to which they were otherwise entitled according to their preference,” the High Court said on Friday.

“There can be no gain saying that the common thread running in the said Cadre Allocation Policy – 2017 is to reward merit. The more meritorious candidates are entitled to consideration for allocation of cadres before the less meritorious candidates are considered,” it added.

The IAS and IPS selected candidates had sought quashing the notifications made in December 2018 allocating the cadres to the candidates on the basis of the results of the Civil Services Examination (CSE), 2017.

The candidates who appeared in the CSE, 2017 had filled up the online forms giving their preferences for cadres under the preferred zones. These preferences were called for, before the declaration of the final results of the selection process, and when the petitioners were not aware of their merit positions.

They said that in respect of CSE, 2017, the Centre adopted a new method of allocation of cadres to the successful candidates appointed, to the IAS and IPS, which was different from the method of allocation of cadres prevalent for the earlier years.

The grievance of the candidates is that the Centre has not allocated the cadres to them as per their declared policy of merit-cum-preferences and, despite the availability of vacancies in the preferred cadres when their respective turns came for consideration.

On the other hand, candidates who ranked lower in merit, when compared to them, were allocated cadres which they had individually given their preferences for, they argued.

“There can be no gain saying that the common thread running in the said Cadre Allocation Policy – 2017 is to reward merit. The more meritorious candidates are entitled to consideration for allocation of cadres before the less meritorious candidates are considered,” the high court said in its 62-page-verdict.

“We, therefore, direct the respondents to undertake fresh cadre allocation of the successful candidates allocated to the IAS and IPS, according to their merit and by taking into consideration the preferences given by the candidates,” it said.