LexU.P. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION versus SATYA NARAYAN SHEOHARE & ORS
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[2009] 4 S.C.R. 491 U.P. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION A v. SATYA NARAYAN SHEOHARE & ORS. Civil Appeal No. 2627 of 2006 FEBRUARY 26, 2009 B [R.V. RAVEENDRAN AND H.L. DATTU, JJ.] ~ U. P Public Services (Reservation for Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1994 - Section 15 - Entitlement to claim benefit of reservation - Recruitment to post of Civil Judge (Jr. Division) - On basis of c written test and interview - Respondents filed application as general category candidates -Before the written test commenced, State government issued notification amending the First Schedule to the Act and thus including the castes to which Respondents belonged, in the list of OBCs - D Respondents obtained caste certificates and claimed benefit of reservation as candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes - Representations not accepted - Writ petitions - High Court allowed the petitions and directed the Respondents to be treated as OBC candidates - Justification of - Held: E Justified - Status of Respondents as on the date when the selection process is deemed to have been initiated, is relevant to decide whether they were entitled to claim the benefit of reservation - Process of selection is deemed to have been initiated when the written test was started - Though F Respondents were general category candidates when the recruitment notification was issued, as on the relevant date, namely the date on which the selection process was deemed to have been initiated, they were OBC candidates and became entitled to claim the benefit of reservation. G ~ The appellant-Commission issued advertisement inviting applications for filling posts of Civil Judge (Junior Division) under the U.P. Nyayik Niyamavali 1951. The 491 H 492 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009} 4 S. C.R. A respondents filed application as general category candidates. Meanwhile, the State Government added the castes of 'kalar' and 'kalal' in the list of Other Backward Classes by amending the First Schedule to the U.P. Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled B Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994. The respondents who belonged to the 'kalar'/kalal caste obtained caste certificates and made represen- tations to the Appellant Commission to extend them the benefit of reservation as candidates belonging to Other C Backward Classes. The representations were not accepted and the Respondents were considered as general category candidates. The respondents were not selected. Feeling aggrieved, they filed writ petitions before the High Court contending that they ought to have been 0 treated as OBC candidates. The High Court allowed the petitions and directed the respondents to be treated as OBC candidates. Disposing of the appeals, the Court HELD: 1. Section 15 of the U.P. Public Services E (Reservation for Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1994 makes it clear that if selection process had been initiated before the commencement of the Act, that is before 1.12.1993, such selection process had to be dealt with in accordance with F the provisions of law and government orders as they stood before such commencement date and not by the provisions of the Act. For this purpose, according to the explanation to the section, the selection process shall be deemed to have been initiated when the written test started G (where the recruitment was on the basis of written test and interview). On account of this special deeming provision, reservzition provision in the Act became applicable even in regard to recruitment notifications issued prior to the commencement of the Act, provided H the written test had not commenced as on the date of 1 • U.P. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION V. 493 SATYA NARAYAN SHEOHARE & ORS. commencement of the Act. Section 2(b) of the Act defines A 'other backward classes of citizens' as those backward classes of citizens specified in Schedule I to the Act. Where a particular caste was not included in the list of 'other backward classes' in Schedule I to the Act, when the Act was enacted, and when such caste is B subsequently added to the list of other backward classes in Schedule I of the Act by way of an amendment, for all purposes, the Act commences in respect of the newly added caste, from the date when the Amendment Act came into effect. Thus, the principle contained in Section c 15 would apply whenever a new caste,
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