Reservation for Persons with Disabilities in Judicial Services: Supreme Court’s Ruling on Cut-Off Marks

The case of Rekha Sharma & Ratanlal v. The Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur & Anr. highlights a crucial legal issue regarding the rights of persons with disabilities (PwD) in competitive examinations. The Supreme Court was tasked with deciding whether the Rajasthan High Court’s decision to not disclose separate cut-off marks for PwD candidates in a judicial recruitment examination violated fundamental rights.

The appellants, Rekha Sharma and Ratanlal, challenged the recruitment process, arguing that the absence of specific cut-off marks for PwD candidates was discriminatory. The Supreme Court examined the legal framework governing reservations and ruled against the appellants, upholding the recruitment process.

Arguments Presented

Petitioner’s Arguments

The appellants argued that:

• The Rajasthan High Court’s recruitment process failed to disclose separate cut-off marks for PwD candidates, making the selection process unfair.
• This omission violated Articles 14, 16, and 21 of the Constitution of India.
• The Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules, 2010, and the Rajasthan Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules, 2018, mandated transparency in the reservation process.

Respondent’s Arguments

The respondents countered that:

• The appellants had failed to qualify for the main examination based on their respective category cut-off marks.
• The selection process was already completed, and appointments were made before the petition was filed.
• PwD reservations were provided as an overall horizontal reservation, not a compartmentalized one, meaning no separate cut-off marks were necessary.

Supreme Court’s Observations

The Court analyzed the principles of horizontal reservation, distinguishing between:

• Compartmentalized Horizontal Reservation: Where specific quotas are assigned to different categories.
• Overall Horizontal Reservation: Where reservation is applied across categories without fixed quotas.

Since PwD reservations were categorized under overall horizontal reservation, the Court ruled that it was unnecessary to declare separate cut-off marks.

Final Judgment

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals, holding that:

• The recruitment process was conducted lawfully.
• No legal provision mandated separate cut-off marks for PwD candidates.
• The appellants, having participated in the selection process, could not challenge it after being declared unsuccessful.

This ruling reaffirms that overall horizontal reservations do not require separate cut-off marks, setting an important precedent for future recruitment processes involving PwD candidates.

Petitioner Name: Rekha Sharma & Ratanlal.
Respondent Name: The Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur & Anr..
Judgment By: Justice Bela M. Trivedi, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.
Place Of Incident: Rajasthan.
Judgment Date: 20-08-2024.

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