Supreme Court: In a special leave petition filed against the judgment passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court concerning Economically Weaker Section (‘EWS’) reservation in Punjab Public Service Commission (‘PPSC’) recruitment for Agriculture Development Officer, a division bench of J.K. Maheshwari and Aravind Kumar, JJ. issued notice, with a returnable period of 6 weeks.
PPSC issued an advertisement for 141 posts of Agriculture Development Officer in the respondent-department. Out of these, 55 posts were earmarked for the General Category, and 14 posts were earmarked for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) Category.
The respondents, who belonged to the EWS category, sought to quash the category-wise merit lists issued by PPSC for both the General Category and the EWS Category for the appointment to the post of Agriculture Development Officer. They further prayed for a direction to PPSC to reframe or recast the merit list.
The respondents’ grievance before the High Court was that the last candidate in the General/Open Category secured 255.40 marks, whereas the last candidate in the EWS Category secured 258.10 marks. Consequently, all the candidates in the EWS category were shown as eligible, even though their marks were higher than the last candidate in the General/Open Category. The respondents sought to be considered for appointment in the General/Open Category.
The High Court, by the impugned order, held that the actions of the State were in violation of Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India. As a result, the category-wise merit lists for both the General Category and the EWS Category were quashed. Additionally, Clause 8 of the office memorandum dated 30-10-2020, along with the clarifications/instructions issued on 18-03-2021, were also set aside. The State was directed to reframe or recast the merit list for the appointment to the post of Agriculture Development Officer by including the respondents belonging to the EWS Category based on their merit rather than reservation. It was further clarified that EWS candidates selected on the basis of merit, and not reservation, would not be counted towards the quota meant for reserved categories.
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