On Thursday, passing a common order on a spate of writ petitions challenging the results,  Justice Elipe Dharma Rao also held as “null and void” Rule 16 (2) of the Examination Rules of the Government of India for Civil Services Examination, which allows adjustment of vacancies in the unreserved category with that of the reserved one.

In all, 457 candidates were selected for the final list of both the years. Of this, 31 OBC and one SC candidate made it through the merit list (unreserved) but at the same time availed their postings under the reserved category.

This action by the UPSC, based on Rule 16 (2), deprived equal number of candidates from the said communities of   availing the postings, the court held. “It amounts to reducing the number of posts reserved for the SC/ST/OBC and adding the same number of posts to the unreserved category, thus making a mockery of the entire rule of reservation,” the judge said.

This had affected allotment of posts to SC/ST/OBC candidates though those in the unreserved category remained intact, the judge held, adding, even candidates who got selected on their own merit are being considered as reserved category.