The stay imposed by the Uttarakhand High Court on the government order (GO) which provides 30 percent reservation in State services for women domiciled in the State has been lifted by the Supreme Court today.
A bench of Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice V Ramasubramanian have asked for a reply from the respondent on the Uttarakhand government’s plea which challenged the August 24 order of the High Court.
In a notification, dated August 10, 2021,the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission had, advertised the Uttarakhand Combined State (Civil)/Pravar Sub-Ordinate Service Examination 2021 and listed 224 vacancies for various posts in about 31 departments.
The clause (8) of the advertisement notification, mentioned that the women who were not domiciled in the State would not be considered in horizontal reservation.
The petitioners challenged the government order stating that it created an Unreserved Uttarakhand Mahila Category which provided lower cut-off marks for women of the State to pass the preliminary examination.
The contention was that with this many would not able to clear the prelims despite getting more marks than women who can avail the reservation.
A division bench of High Court’s Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe have put a stay on the government order (GO) and have allowed the petitioners to appear in the main examination.
The State moved to the Apex Court stating that the interim order was tantamount to passing final relief.
The State appeal said that the High Court in the grab of interim relief has granted final relief at interim stage,even without prima facie case.
The plea also said that the order provides for ‘geographical classification’ on the basis of place of residence which is permissible under the Constitution.