Supreme Court Clarifies PwD Unreserved Seats Are Open to All Categories

The Supreme Court of India has provided an important clarification regarding reservation rules, stating that "unreserved" vacancies designated for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) function as an open pool. Selection for these seats must be based purely on merit.

According to the Court, candidates from any social or reserved category—whether SC, ST, OBC, or General—are eligible to compete for these positions, provided they meet the criteria.

A bench comprising Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh overturned a Calcutta High Court decision, which had given preference to a lower-scoring general category candidate.

The Court clarified that the "unreserved" category does not represent any specific social group. Instead, it is open to all eligible candidates regardless of their social classification.

In the judgment, Justice Singh emphasized that it is well-established in reservation law that the unreserved or open category is not limited to any particular community such as SC, ST, or OBC. It is accessible to all candidates.

The case involved recruitment for the post of Junior Engineer at the West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Company Limited. One position was marked as "Unreserved (PwD - Low Vision)".

An OBC PwD candidate scored 66.667 marks, while a general category PwD candidate scored 55.667 marks. The company selected the higher-scoring OBC candidate, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.

The Court strongly observed that a more meritorious candidate from OBC, SC, or ST categories cannot be denied selection to an unreserved PwD seat simply because a general category candidate is available.