[Delhi HJS’22] High Court dismisses plea seeking appointment as Judicial Officer on unfilled seat reserved for SC/ST

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea filed by a candidate namely Rabindra Tiwary seeking appointment on unfilled seats in the Delhi Higher Judicial Service (DHJS) 2022 reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) people.

Observing that the petitioner candidate had no absolute right to be appointed to the DHJS, a division bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Amit Mahajan said, “We are unable to accept that any order or direction requires to be issued to the respondents for undertaking any exercise for de-reservation of vacancies reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes /Scheduled Tribes”.

“In the event, any such de-reservation of reserved vacancies is considered necessary by the respondents, on account of the same remaining unfilled over a long period of time, for want of the candidates meeting the qualifying criteria, the respondents may undertake the exercise for de-reserving such vacancies”, the bench added.

Court also rejected the candidate’s contention that he is entitled to be considered for appointment as he belongs to the EWS. Court said, “The petitioner’s contention that he is entitled to be considered for appointment as he belongs to the EWS is also unmerited. The impugned advertisement did not contain any such reservation for the EWS category”.

The single-judge bench was hearing a plea by a candidate seeking appointment as a Judicial Officer at the DHJS by creating a supernumerary vacancy. He also sought directions to the respondents to de-reserve the vacancies for candidates belonging to SC/ST by amending the advertisement published on February 23, 2022, issued for inviting applications for DHJS Exams 2022.

Furthermore, the candidate prayed to be considered for appointment as a person belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS). Alternatively, he sought the impugned advertisement of DHJS Exam 2022 to be set aside.

The court opined that the petitioner cannot rightfully demand that the vacancies reserved for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes candidates be de-reserved.

Conclusively, the court held that the plea was unmerited and accordingly, dismissed it.

Case Title: Rabindra Tiwary v. Lt. Governor, Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Anr.