Reservation can't be applied in qualifying exams: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said the policy of reservation can't be applied in case of qualifying examinations, it can in only at the time of final selection.

The top court, however, agreed to hear on Thursday a plea for a direction to the Union government's Ministry of Human Resource Development to ensure implementation of the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019, that granted 10 % reservations to the candidates from economically weaker section, in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) 2019.

“In qualifying examination, there can't be any reservations, it is only after selection, reservation comes in,” a bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna orally said.

Petitioners Rajneesh Kumar Pandey and others sought a direction for including 10% quota for economically weaker sections in final selection list of the CTET. The petitioners claimed the HRD Ministry issued the CTET advertisement on January 23 in “wholly illegal and arbitrary manner” without including the 10% quota for economically weaker sections.

The bench, however, said the CTET was only a qualifying examination.

The court, which in the morning dismissed the plea, agreed to consider it afresh on May 16 on a request by the counsel at the time of rising of the bench.

The CTET, 2019 is a central government's test that gave scores to aspiring teachers, in an examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The petitioners contended the benefit of 10 % reservation should be extended to them as they belonged to the economically weaker section of the society. Similar benefits were being extended to other reserved category (SC, ST, OBC and PH) in the CTET-2019 advertisement, they claimed.