Reserved category candidates selected on merit should be considered for allocation of service without affecting the chances of other candidates.

( 1 ) INTERPRETATION of Rules for Civil Services Examination, 1996 (in short, cse, 1996 ) falls for consideration in these writ petitions, which arise out of the judgments and orders dated 3. 5. 1999, 5. 5. 1999 and 8. 12. 1999 passed by the central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal ) in Original Application Nos. 294 of 1998,2624 of 1998 and 318 of 1998 respectively filed by the petitioners herein.

( 2 ) THE fact of the matter is being noticed from C. W. P. No. 3561 of 1999. The petitioner belongs to Other Backward Class (OBC ). Indisputably, reservation was made for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBC category candidates in CSE, 1996. The petitioner along with others appeared at the said examination. His name in the select list was at serial No. 606. It is not in dispute that 737 candidates were recommended by the Union Public Service Commission (in short, the Commission ) for appointment against the said vacant posts. Vacancies, however, were subject to revision and appointments, which were to be made subject to the final decision of the Supreme Court/tribunal on the Special Leave petitions and the Original Applications, which were said to be pending at the relevant time.

( 3 ) THE relevant extracts of CSE, 1996 is in the following terms:

"on the results of the Civil Services (Mains) Examination held by the Union public Service Commission in November/december, 1996 and Personality test Boards held in April/may, 1997. The total number of candidates recommended for appointment is 737 including 212 belonging to the Other backward Classes, 138 to the Scheduled Castes and 59 to the Scheduled Tribes. Appointment to the various Services will be made according to the number of vacancies available with due consideration to the provisions contained in Rules 4 and 18 of the Rules for the examination relating to restrictions on the eligibility of candidates appointed to the Indian Police Service and Police Services Group b /central Services, Group a and Group b on the results of an earlier examination and subject to final decision of the Supreme Court/cats on the SLPs/o. As. pending therein. The number of vacancies expected to be filled is 76 (38 General, 20 other Backward Classes, 12 Scheduled Castes and 6 Scheduled Tribes) for the indian Administrative Service, 14 (7 General, 3 Other Backward Classes, 3 Scheduled castes and 1 Scheduled Tribes) for the Indian Foreign Service; 96 (48 General, 25 other Backward Classes, 15 Scheduled Castes and 8 Scheduled Tribes) for the indian Police Service, 308 (157 General, 72 Other Backward Classes, 56 Scheduled castes and 23 Scheduled Tribes) for the Central Services, Group a and 245 (133 general, 54 Other Backward Classes, 39 Scheduled Castes and 19 Scheduled Tribes) for Group b Services. The vacancies indicated above is subject to revision. "the following chart would show the manner in which different categories of jobs were to be allocated to different categories of candidates: category IAS IFS IPS Gr. A Gr. B Total /cadre general 38 07 48 157 133 383 obc 20 03 25 72 54 174 sc 12 03 15 56 39 125 st 06 01 08 23 19 57 total 76 14 96 308 245 739 a bare perusal of the aforesaid chart would clearly show that 174 posts were to be filled up by OBC candidates selected with relaxed standard as per the extent rules.

( 4 ) THE respondents contended before the Tribunal as also before us that all 174 posts earmarked for OBC candidates have been filled up in the following terms:

"12. The candidates recommended by the UPSC for appointment against the vacancies earmarked for OBC have been allocated against all the 174 vacancies for OBC candidates in various services/posts. The list of such candidates is at annexure III. "however, from the impugned judgments of the learned Tribunal as also the counter affidavit filed by the respondents, it would appear that there had been one to one correspondence between a sanctioned