Reservation rules for general and reserved candidates in all-India services like IAS and IPS cannot be altered by the government as it may violate the Constitution, Supreme Court has said.
A Bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik said the roster system for general, SC, ST and OBC candidates should be adhered to and reservation in excess of the prescribed quota limit is illegal and unconstitutional.
“The roster system ensures equitable treatment to both general and reserved candidates and hence cannot be bypassed on some ground or the other which may result in unfair treatment to either general candidates or reserved candidates in violation of their right to equality under Articles 14 and 16(1) of the Constitution,” Justice Patnaik observed.
The apex court passed the ruling while dealing with the petition of G Srinivas Rao, an IPS officer and a general candidate, challenging the Centre’s decision to allot him the Manipur-Tripura Joint Cadre on October 27, 1999, instead of his home cadre Andhra Pradesh.