Supreme Court Upholds Subject-wise Reservation for University Posts Under Uttar Pradesh Act. Roster and clubbing of single posts carrying same scale of pay required for reservation in direct recruitment to Professor, Reader and Lecturer posts.

Case Note & Summary

The dispute arose from a government clarification dated 19.4.1995 issued by the State of Uttar Pradesh regarding reservation in direct recruitment to posts of Professors, Readers and Lecturers in universities and colleges under the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994. The University of Allahabad had issued an advertisement on 30.1.1995 inviting applications for these posts, specifying reserved categories subject-wise. The clarification stated that for recruitment to these posts, the University or College would be treated as a unit and reservation would apply to all posts together. A writ petition was filed before the Allahabad High Court challenging this clarification. The High Court, by judgment dated 3.5.1996 in CMWP No. 12592 of 1995, held the notification/clarification bad in law. The State of Uttar Pradesh appealed to the Supreme Court by special leave. The State, through Advocate General Rakesh Dwivedi, contended that most subjects had single posts of Professor, Reader or Lecturer; if recruitment was made subject-wise to each single post, reservation could never be applied. Therefore, the Government clarified that the entire University/College should be treated as a unit and the posts fused into three separate categories—Professor, Reader and Lecturer—for applying reservation. This was said to be consistent with Section 2(c)(iv) read with Section 3(5) of the Act. The respondents, through senior counsel P.P. Rao, argued that the advertisement was issued subject-wise and that the government instructions created ambiguity about which posts were reserved. Subject-wise reservation would enable candidates to know which vacancies were available to general and reserved categories. If there was only one post in a faculty/cadre, the rule of rotation under Section 3(5) should apply, thereby effectuating reservation without treating the entire university as a unit. The Supreme Court accepted the respondents' contention. It referred to the constitutional scheme under Articles 14, 15, 16, 38, 46, 335 and 51A, and observed that reservation in public employment is a facet of protective discrimination to achieve socio-economic equality. It noted that the Uttar Pradesh Act applied to services and posts in educational institutions including universities. The Court held that while issuing an advertisement for direct recruitment in any grade or cadre in a university, the rule of reservation must be applied to each service, post, grade or cadre as per the percentage under Section 3(1) and the roster under Section 3(5). The university was required to work out the posts beforehand. If there was only one post in a cadre/faculty, all such single posts carrying the same scale of pay were required to be clubbed and the roster applied to that group. The advertisement must earmark posts in the roster for general and reserved categories so that every qualified candidate could apply for the appropriate post. The Court found that the present advertisement specified posts subject-wise and vacancies were reserved for general, Dalits, Tribes and OBCs, though it was unclear whether this was as per roster. It concluded that the government clarification treating the entire University/College as a unit was not consistent with the Act's requirement of applying the roster to each cadre and the rule of rotation for single posts. The final operative order was not fully available in the extracted text; however, the reasoning indicated that the appeal by the State was to be dismissed or the matter remanded for implementation of reservation subject-wise with clubbing of single posts.

Headnote

Issue of Consideration

Final Decision

The Supreme Court agreed with the respondents' interpretation and held that the rule of reservation under the U.P. Act must be applied to each service, post, grade or cadre as per the roster under Section 3(5). Where a single post exists in a cadre/faculty, all such single posts carrying the same scale of pay must be clubbed and the roster applied. The University is required to earmark posts in the roster for general and reserved categories so that candidates can apply accordingly. The government clarification treating the whole University/College as a unit was found inconsistent; final operative order not fully available in extracted text.

Law Points