SC Upholds Reservation of Post for SC Sports (Women)

The Supreme Court sustained the reservation of a DSP post in the SC Sports Women category in Punjab. It held that no changes could be made to the recruitment process after the issuance of an advertisement. The observation was made while hearing a petition filed by a female candidate who successfully cleared the post reserved for SC Sports (Women) but was denied the position owing to a Division Bench Order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The matter originated from a recruitment advertisement where one DSP post was reserved for ‘SC Sports (Women),’ a category that was created pursuant to the Punjab Civil Services (Reservation of Posts for Women) Rules, 2020. A few months after the advertisement, the State government issued a 100-point roster for different reserved posts in the State government services; however, the DSP post was not reserved for Women in the roster. The candidate who stood first among males filed a writ petition praying for the quashing of the recruitment advertisement, but only to the extent that it reserved the DSP post under the ‘SC Sports’ category for women, in violation of the roster and prayed that the position be granted to him.

The apex court held that the recruitment process commences with the issuance of the advertisement calling for applications and ends with the filling up of vacancies. Further, the eligibility criteria for being placed on the select list, notified at the commencement of the recruitment process, cannot be changed midway through the recruitment process unless the extant Rules so permit, or the advertisement, which is not contrary to the extant Rules, so permits. Even if such a change were permissible, the change would have to meet the requirements of Article 14 of the Constitution and satisfy the test of non-arbitrariness.