The Allahabad High Court, on Monday, stayed interviews of the UPPCS-2011 Examination and reserved its order on the disputed new reservation formula of the UP Public Service Commission (UPPSC) introduced through the mains part of the examination. The interviews of UPPCS— 2011 were scheduled to start from July 26. Thosuands of students protesting the new reservation formula cheered at Hindu Hostel crossing and other parts of the city after court’s stay order.
The court clarified that the interim order of staying interview will continue till delivery of the judgement. A division bench consisting of Justice laxmi Kanta Mohapatra and Justice Rakesh Srivastava passed the order on a writ petition filed by Sudhir Kumar and other students who had challenged the newly introduced reservation formula of the commission on various grounds.
The UPPSC had filed its counter-affidavit in the court as per the earlier direction of the bench on July 15. Counsels for the commission Shashi Nandan assisted by MN Singh had pointed out the bench that the newly introduced reservation formula of the commission is in accordance with the provisions of Reservation Rules, 1994. They further said that the formula was not adopted by the commission at the the preliminary stage of the UPPCS- 2011. They informed the court that after the mains stage, whoever secures the minimum cut off marks fixed by the commission was called for the interview. They emphasised that only meritorious candidates were called up for the interview.
Additional Advocate General CB Yadav argued that the petitioners are not elligible to challenge the newly introduced reservation formula as none of them qualified in the mains examination of UPPCS-2011. He said that the new reservation formula is absolutely correct and there is no infirmity in it.
The Apex Court in its various judicial pronouncements had upheld the validity of the Reservation Rules, 1994, and the reservation formula conformed to the said rules, he added.
Petitioners counsel Keshari Nath Tripathi pleaded that the reservation at every stage of an examination can not be legal. He said that the benefit of reservation is to be given to the elligible candidates in the final result of an examination. The commission had taken a decision in haste introducing the reservation formula absolutely contrary to the Reservation Rules, 1994, and based on a wrong interpretation of it, Tripathi stressed. The new formula was aimed at benefitting the candidates of a particular caste, he alleged.
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