HIRA LAL versus DISTRICT JUDGE, GHAZIABAD & OTHERS

Citation: [1983] 2 S.C.R. 739 · Decided: 13-04-1983 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: R.S. PATHAK · Disposal: Case Allowed

Judgment (excerpt)

739· 
tURA LAL 
v. 
DISTRICT JUDGE, GHAZIABAD & OTHERS 
April 1 l, 1983 
(R.S. PATHAK AND RANGANATH MISRA, JJ.) 
U.P. State SubJrdinate Service-Reservation for Scheduled Castes-
Appointments should be made in acco ·Janee with rost~r prescribed. 
The petitioner, a'member of the Scheduled Castes, secured the 7th C -
po~ition in the test and interview held for filling up six vacancies in the post 
of stenographer and was not selected for appointment. The State Govern-
ment had, by-an order, directed that 18 per cent of the post~ in the subordi-
nate services should b;! reserved for Scheduled Ca;)te3 whenever recruitment was 
to be made through competition and also provided that in the roster register 
Of every 25 vacancies, the Jst 7th, 13th, 19th and 25th vacancies should be n 
reserved for Scheduled Castes. The stand taken by the respondents was that 
while making selection to the six: vacancies in question, no reservation had been 
intended to be made in view of the position that the post of stenographer was 
covered under Class 111 service and the total strength of CJass III employee:; as 
on the relevant date was 132 and there were as many as 28 among them 
belonging to the SchedJled Castes which was more than 21 per cent. The 
petitioner contended that the direction regarding reservation should have beeb. 
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applied and he should have be~n selected for appointment. 
Allowing the petition, 
HELD : That more than 21 per cent of the posts in Grade II[ service 
were beiog manned by people belonging to -scheduled Caste> at the relevant 
time is no anS.\'er to the prescription of the roster. It is not known whether 
some of the recruits of earlier years already in service belonging to the 
Scheduled Castes had come on the basis of overall merit:without reference to 
reservation. When six vacancies were being filled up at a time in one yeai, 
if the roster was to be followed, one of the po~ts would indisputably have 
gone to the candidate of the Scheduled Castes. As per the roster, the petitioner 
·was entitled to be appointed against the first vacancy. [731 E-H; 742-A] 
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition No. 4007 of 1982 
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India) 
R.K. Jain for the Petitioner. 
Prithvi Raj and Mrs. S. Dikshit for the Respondent. 
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[198312 s.c.R. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
RANGANATH MISRA, J. Petitioner, who offered himseli as a 
· cand;date for one of the posts of Stenographer in Hindi, in the estab-
lishment~of District Judge.at Ghaziabad in tbe State of Uttar Pradesh, 
has come with this petition u_nder Article 32 alleging the violation 
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of his fundamental _rights enshrined in Arts. 14 and 16 of the Con· 
stitution. He has pleaded that he is a member of the scheduled castes 
and the State Government by a general order in March, 1965 had direc-
ted that "in services subordinate to U.P. Government for recruitment 
through competition" 18'/;, of the posts should be reserved for members 
of the scheduled castes. He further alleged that when six vacancies 
C in the post of Stenographer in Hindi were advertised to be filled up 
and he offered himself as a candidate, he was examined in shorthand 
test on April 17, 1982, and was shown in the third place in the list 
of successful candidates published on April 24, 1982 and was called 
to an interview on May I, 1982. According to.him, in the final list 
D of successful candidates his position was shown as no. 7 and, there-
fore, he was not selected. He complains that he was downgraded 
from the third place without justification, and if the Government 
order of reservation of 18% had been kept in view, he should have 
been selected even if he secured the seventh place in the merit list. 
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In the return to the rule, the Additional District Judge of 
Ghaziabad has indicated that the petitioner had secured eighth place 
in shorthand test and his name figured 
as no. 3 in the list 
of sucessful candidates as it has been drawn up in alphabetical 
·order. At the interview he improved his position and was ultimately 
shown as no. 7. In the selection no reservation had been intended 
to be made in view of the position that the post of Stenographer is 
covered under Class III service and t!ie total strength of Class III 
employees in the judgeship of Ghaziabad as on May 1, 1982, was 132 
and there were as many as 28 among them belonging to the scheduled 
castes which came to more than 21

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