New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Delhi is of "migrants" and the benefit of reservation cannot be denied on the ground that a caste certificate has been issued by another state, the High Court here has said.
The court made the observation while dealing with a petition by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on the issue.
A candidate had applied for a 'Staff Nurse' job as advertised by the Health and Family Welfare department of the city government, but his candidature was not considered under the 'reserved category' as the caste certificate provided by him was issued by Rajasthan.
The CAT however granted relief to the candidate and directed the authorities to forthwith issue an appointment letter to him under the reserved category, subject to him meeting all other eligibility criteria.
The high court, in its recent judgement, observed that reservation was being extended under the PWD (person with disabilities) category by the authorities, irrespective of whether the certificate was issued by another state.
Even candidates belonging to the economically weaker sections from other states were being given appointments in the capital, and therefore, denying the benefit to those scheduled caste category candidates who have certificates of other states was "sheer discrimination", which cannot be permitted, the court held.
"It is also not in dispute, NCT of Delhi being Union Territory for all purposes, except for running administration, is of migrants. Therefore, the benefit of reservation to any category cannot be denied," said the bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Girish Kathpalia.
"The State of NCT of Delhi is giving reservation to one category and denying to the other category, which is sheer discrimination to the category in question in the present case, and cannot be permitted," added the bench.
The high court noted that in the present case, the candidate had successfully qualified the selection process and secured 87 marks against 71 marks obtained by the last selected candidate from the SC category, but his representation to the competent authority seeking his appointment remained unanswered.
The court upheld the CAT order passed in April and said the tribunal was not in error in holding that the candidate was entitled to appointment to the post of 'Staff Nurse' as a scheduled caste category candidate.
Dismissing the petition, the court directed the authorities to comply with the directions of the CAT within four weeks.
The authorities assailed the CAT decision on the ground that during the period when the recruitment process was being undertaken in the present case, the benefit of reservation was not extended to SC/ST candidates who were from outside Delhi.
It said the result of the examination for the post was declared in January 2011, the process of recruitment was completed in September 2012 and the unfilled vacancies reserved for the SC/ST category were carried forward to subsequent recruitments.