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Union of India & Ors. v. M. Selvakumar & Anr.

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 858 of 2017, with connected C.A. Nos. 859 of 2017 and 860 of 2017)Decided 24 Jan 2017
Civil Appeal No. 858 of 2017, with connected C.A. Nos. 859 of 2017 and 860 of 2017
Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

Physically handicapped candidates belonging to the General Category were originally allowed only 4 attempts at the Civil Services Examination, while physically handicapped OBC candidates were already allowed 7 attempts (equal to other OBC candidates) and SC/ST candidates had unlimited attempts. In 2007 the Central Government raised the General Category physically-handicapped quota from 4 to 7 attempts to bring it level with the OBC physically-handicapped quota. A physically handicapped OBC candidate (M. Selvakumar, who had already used all 7 of his permitted attempts) argued that since the General Category's cap had been raised, his own OBC cap should proportionately rise as well (e.g., to 10), and the Madras High Court and later the Delhi High Court (in a similar case) agreed and allowed his 9th attempt.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the 2007 amendment was a deliberate, considered policy decision of the Government aimed specifically at equalising the General Category's attempts with what OBC candidates already enjoyed, not a general entitlement for every category to keep "topping up" each other's attempt limits. It reasoned that policy decisions on how reservations and relaxations are structured fall within the State's discretion under Articles 15 and 16 and are not ordinarily open to judicial interference unless shown to be unreasonable, and found nothing unreasonable or discriminatory in leaving the already-equal OBC attempt-count unchanged while raising only the General Category's lower count to match it. It accordingly set aside both the Madras High Court and Delhi High Court judgments and dismissed the underlying writ petitions, allowing all three connected appeals.

Lesson Learnt

When the government revises one category's entitlement to bring it level with another category that already enjoys a benefit, that is not automatically unfair to the category whose benefit stayed the same: courts will generally respect such calibrated policy choices unless they are shown to be arbitrary or unreasonable.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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