HC pulls up Centre for civil services selections without declaring exact vacancies

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh asked the Centre and the UPSC that conducts the exam to explain how it was deciding who qualifies for the mains and interview

The Delhi high court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for selecting candidates for All India Civil Services mains exam and subsequent interviews without declaring the actual number of vacancies, particularly for the disabled category. Such an act amounts to “arbitrariness”, it added.

Delhi high court. (HT file)

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh asked the Centre and the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) that conducts the exam to explain how it was deciding who qualifies for the mains and interview.

“When your vacancies are fluctuating, how many people will you call for the mains and interview? If you have the power to call any number of candidates for mains and interviews without declaring the actual vacancies, it is known as arbitrariness.”

The court was hearing two pleases by Sambhavna and Evara Foundation, which have challenged the exam notification on the grounds that only approximate vacancies for the disabled are mentioned and not the 4% mandatory reservation mandated under the law.

The court asked the authorities to explain the difference of eight seats in the vacancies for disabled calculated by Sambhavna, and the number advertised in the exam notification. According to the petitioner, the number should be 32, whereas the exam notice refers to 24 vacancies under the disabled category.

The petitioners urged the bench to stay the mains exam scheduled from January 8 to January 17 or direct the Centre to hold exams for the disabled persons later if the two petitions were allowed.

The court refused to pass any interim directions and said that if the petitioners were successful, the reliefs would be moulded accordingly.

On the last date of hearing in September, the court had termed as “absurd” the UPSC’s argument that while the number of vacancies in the All-India Civil Services may vary before the final selection of candidates, the number of seats for the disabled would remain fixed.

Sambhavna has contended that the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act mandates that every government establishment shall reserve 4% of its total vacancies for those with benchmark disabilities. It has said that the expected approximate vacancies should be 796.

The UPSC exam notice mentioned “expected approximate vacancies” -- a category that does not exist under the law.

The matter would be heard next on January 29.