Reserved candidates scoring above the open-category cutoff must be counted in open merit at screening when those marks determine final selection, Allahabad High Court rules

The appellants applied for recruitment to the post of Swasthya Shiksha Adhikari under an advertisement dated 22 December 2025. The selection comprised a screening examination and interview; 75% of the screening marks and 25% of the interview marks determined the final merit order.

The Single Judge dismissed their writ petition as premature and lacking an actionable cause; in the special appeal, the Division Bench held the challenge maintainable and proceeded to decide the merits.

Whether a reserved-category candidate who scores above the unreserved-category cut-off may be included in the unreserved list at the screening stage, particularly where screening marks count towards final merit

Whether the O.M. dated 9 January 2020 could restrict such adjustment to final selection and exclude candidates who had availed a relaxation or concession

Whether the appellants’ participation in the recruitment process barred them from challenging the impugned condition

Section 3(6) of the U.P. Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) Act, 1994 requires a reserved-category candidate selected on merit in open competition not to be counted against the reserved vacancies; it imposes no restriction confining that treatment to final selection.

Section 8 addresses concessions and relaxations, while Jitendra Kumar Singh v. State of U.P., (2010) 3 SCC 119, holds that fee and age concessions do not, under the U.P. scheme, by themselves prevent merit-based consideration in the open category.

Under Article 16(1), the open category is open to all candidates, and merit-based inclusion is not barred merely because a candidate belongs to a reserved category. U.P. Power Corporation Ltd. v. Nitin Kumar, 2015 SCC OnLine All 8611, and Rajasthan High Court v. Rajat Yadav, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2931, support applying merit-based inclusion at the screening stage where the applicable selection scheme and facts warrant it, including where screening marks count towards final merit.

The Commission’s functions under Article 320 do not confer authority to determine the State’s reservation policy; recruitment conditions remain subject to applicable legislation, rules and State policy.

The Court found that this screening examination was not merely a shortlisting device: under Rule 4(c) of the Uttar Pradesh Direct Recruitment through Public Service Commission (Screening Examination) Rules, 2025, and the advertisement, its marks accounted for 75% of final merit.

Accordingly, a blanket rule postponing open-category adjustment until final selection could exclude a reserved-category candidate from further consideration despite a screening score above the unreserved cut-off, contrary to Section 3(6) and the principles in Nitin Kumar and Rajat Yadav.

The appellants had not been shown to have claimed or received a relevant qualifying-standard relaxation, so that issue did not bar their merit-based consideration in this recruitment.

The O.M.’s blanket approach failed to account for differing recruitment rules and selection structures; the Commission could not use it to override the applicable statutory scheme. Participation did not defeat the challenge because it alleged an unconstitutional recruitment condition and was brought before the screening examination.

It directed that appellants who score above the unreserved-category cut-off in the screening examination be included in the unreserved category, and that the recruitment proceed accordingly.

The Commission was directed to reconsider the O.M. and its application to other recruitments within three months; the State was likewise directed to consider and clarify its policy within that period.