IMPORTANT POINTS
(1) Reservation in appointment – Such of reservation category candidates who make it on their own merit have to be adjusted against general category candidates.
(2) If a word is used in a Statue, it cannot be made otiose.

JUDGMENT

Sanjay Kishan Kaul, J.

The perennial problem of working out the reservation system given the scarce employment sources has given rise to the present dispute.

2. Notification was issued on 12.06.2019 by the Teachers' Recruitment Board, appellant No. 3, inviting applications online from eligible candidates for direct recruitment to the post of Post Graduate Assistants and Physical Education Directors, Grade-I in school education and other departments for the year 2018-2019 in Tamil Nadu. The recruitment for various subjects was carried out smoothly, but the filling up of vacancies for the post of Post Graduate Assistants in Chemistry has caused some disputes in which the respondents were applicants. In terms of the notification, a total of 356 posts were notified for Chemistry, out of which 117 vacancies were available for Most Backward Class (MBC) and Denotified Community (DNC) candidates. The break-up of 117 vacancies was of 74 backlog vacancies and 43 current vacancies.

3. The respondents, among other candidates, applied for the aforementioned post online and appeared in the written examination on 28.09.2019. Post verification of certificates, a provisional selection list was published by appellant No. 3 on 20.11.2019, but the names of the respondents were absent.

4. The respondents claimed that on scrutinizing the list, they found that the meritorious candidates under the MBC quota, who would have been selected irrespective of any reservation, had not been considered under the general vacancies but had been appointed in the MBC/DNC quota against the backlog vacancies. This had caused the respondents not to be appointed. It was their submission that the meritorious candidates were required to be adjusted against vacancies on merit in the General Turn, and it is only thereafter that the backlog vacancies had to be filled in and thereafter, lastly, the current vacancies under the quota had to be adjusted.

5. The aforesaid resulted in filing of writ petitions before the High Court of Madras seeking quashing of the provisional selection list and for appointment of these respondents.

6. The controversy really arose and arises from the interpretation of Section 27(f) of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants (Conditions of Service) Act, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). The relevant Section reads as under:

"27. Reservation for Appointments-

(f) If qualified and suitable candidates belonging to any of the Backward Classes, Backward Class Muslims including the Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities are not available for selection for appointment by recruitment by transfer or by promotion in the turns allotted to them, the turns so allotted shall lapse and the selection for appointment for the vacancies shall be made by the next turn in the order of rotation:

Provided also that in the case of selection for appointment by direct recruitment, with effect on and from the 1st April 1989, there shall be a ban on dereservation of vacancies reserved for the candidates belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities to be appointed by direct recruitment. But, the above ban on dereservation of vacancies shall not be applicable to the vacancies reserved for the Backward Classes (other than Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities), Backward Class Muslims and, therefore, if qualified and suitable candidates belonging to any of the Backward Classes (other than Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities), Backward Class Muslims are not available for appointment, the turn so allotted to them shall lapse and the vacancy shall be filled by the next turn in the order of rotation. If sufficient number of qualified and suitable candidates belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities are not