The main legal point established in the judgment is that the preference indicated by candidates for a particular service is final and candidates can be kept out of consideration for appointment to other services despite securing more marks than selected candidates in those services. Additionally, the rejection of OBC certificates not in the prescribed format was upheld.

JUDGMENT :

V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN, J.

1. By a Notification dated 03.12.2011, the Staff Selection Commission invited applications for recruitment (i) of Constables (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) such as ITBP, BSF, CISF, CRPF and SSB; and (ii) of Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles. Initially the number of posts sought to be filled up was notified as 39574, but the same was revised to 48802.

2. As per the Notification, the process of recruitment was to comprise of Physical Standards Test, Physical Efficiency Test, Written Examination and Medical Examination.

3. The closing date for submission of applications was fixed as 04.01.2012. However, candidates residing in North Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, a few districts of Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep were entitled to submit the applications on or before 11.01.2012.

4. The Notification made it clear that the recruitment would be based upon reservations mentioned in the Appendix, state-wise and category-wise. Apart from the reservation for OBC, SC and ST candidates, the Notification provided for reservation for candidates domiciled in Naxal and Militancy affected areas and select border districts of some states in each of the services such as ITBP, BSF etc. In fact, relaxation in the upper age limit was also granted not only for SC, ST, OBC and ex-serviceman candidates, but also for those domiciled in certain areas and those dependents of victims killed in 1984 riots or in the communal riots of 2002 in Gujarat.

5. Appendix-A to the Recruitment Notification dated 03.12.2011 showed that the vacancies were separately earmarked, (i) service-wise, such as Assam Rifles, BSF, CISF, CRPF, ITBP and Sashastra Seema Bal; (ii) State and Union Territory wise such as Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh etc.; and (iii) Intra-State wise for the entire State as well as Naxal affected areas/border districts of the same State. Appendix-C to the Notification indicated how the border districts of North Eastern States, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan were also divided into one or more categories and how the vacancies are distributed among these areas. The vacancies in every service in respect of every State, under Appendix-A to the Notification were distributed further on the basis of the Rule of Reservation for OBCs, SCs and STs.

6. At the cost of repetition it must be pointed out that the total number of about 48802 vacancies were distributed service-wise, state-wise, reserved category-wise and domiciliary status-wise in respect of border districts and Naxal/Militancy affected areas.

7. Annexure-II to the Recruitment Notification contained “Instructions for filling up the application”. Column No.16 under paragraph 4.0 of the said Instructions dealt with “preference for posts”. This Column No.16 under paragraph 4.0 of Annexure-II to the Recruitment Notification dated 03.12.2011 reads as follows:

“Candidates should carefully indicate preference for post under different forces. Option once exercised will be final and no change will be allowed under any circumstances.”

8. The format of the certificate to be produced by candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, was provided in Annexure-VI. The format of the certificate to be produced by OBCs was given in Annexure-VII.

9. Since vacancies were notified service-wise, state-wise and category-wise, Annexure-XII to the Recruitment Notification indicated the code numbers allotted to all the States and Union Territories and Annexure XIII separately indicated the code numbers allotted to different border districts of the North-Eastern States, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal. Annexure-XIV provided the code numbers separately for the Naxal/Militancy affected districts in some of the States such as An