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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has said that Delhi belongs to “migrants” and the benefit of reservation ( reservation ) cannot be denied on the ground that the caste certificate has been issued by another state. The court made this remark while hearing the petition of the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSB), which challenged the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on this issue.
A candidate had applied after the Delhi Government’s Health and Family Welfare Department issued an advertisement for the job of ‘Staff Nurse’, but his candidature was not considered under the ‘reserved category’ because the caste certificate provided by him was issued by Rajasthan. However, CAT granted relief to the candidate and directed the authorities to issue him an appointment letter under the reserved category immediately, provided he fulfils all other eligibility criteria.
Discrimination not permissible
The high court, in its recent verdict, said reservation under the Persons with Disabilities (PWD) category was being granted by the authorities even if the certificate was issued by another state. The court said even candidates belonging to the economically weaker sections (EWS) from other states were being given jobs in the national capital and, therefore, denying this benefit to those candidates belonging to the SC category who possess certificates from other states was “blatant discrimination” which cannot be permitted.
Reservation benefit not denied
“There is no dispute that Delhi is a Union Territory and for all purposes except running the administration, it belongs to the migrants,” a bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Girish Kathpalia said. Therefore, the benefit of reservation cannot be denied to any category. The bench said, “The Delhi government is granting reservation to one category and depriving the other category, which is a blatant discrimination with the category in question in the present case and cannot be permitted.” The high court said that in the present case, the candidate had successfully completed the selection process and obtained 87 marks as against 71 marks obtained by the last selected candidate from the SC category. The court upheld the CAT order passed in April and said that the tribunal had not committed any error in holding that the candidate was entitled to appointment to the post of ‘staff nurse’ as a candidate from the Scheduled Caste category. Dismissing the plea, the court directed the authorities to comply with the CAT directions within four weeks.
