This case came before the Rajasthan High Court, where the Court had to decide how reserved category candidates should be treated when they score more marks than general category candidates.

Who was the petitioner?

The petitioner was Ms. Deepti Kalal She belonged to the BC (Backward Class) – Women (WE) category She had applied for a government job

What happened during selection?

There was only one seat reserved for the BC-WE category That seat was already filled by another BC-WE candidate

Ms. Deepti Kalal was therefore placed in the reserve/waiting list She was the only candidate from BC-WE category in that reserve list

Issues in this case – Cut-off Marks

Here’s where the problem started:

BC-WE category cut-off: 61 marks

General category cut-off: 58 marks

This means the General category cut-off was LOWER than the reserved category cut-off.

And importantly:

The BC-WE candidate who got selected had more than 58 marks She had not taken any reservation benefit, except fee relaxation

What was Ms. Deepti Kalal’s argument?

She said:

“Since the selected BC-WE candidate scored more marks than the General category cut-off, she should NOT have been given the reserved seat.

She should have been shifted (migrated) to the General Women category.”

If that happened:

The BC-WE seat would become vacant

And since Ms. Deepti Kalal was next in merit and only candidate in the reserve list,

She should get that BC-WE seat

What did the High Court say?

Justice Farjand Ali agreed with her.

The Court explained a very important principle:

General category is an open merit category

Anyone – SC, ST, OBC, or General can be selected in it if they score enough marks

Supreme Court cases relied upon

The High Court relied on settled Supreme Court law, especially:

1 Deepa E.V. v Union of India Supreme Court held that:

If a reserved category candidate scores more than general cut-off and takes no relaxation except fee Then she must be selected in General category

2 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited v Sandeep Choudhary

Supreme Court clearly said: Merit migration is mandatory

Once conditions are satisfied, authorities have no discretion

Final Decision of the Court

The High Court held that:

The selected BC-WE candidate should have been placed in the General

Women category Because of that:

A BC-WE seat became vacant

Ms. Deepti Kalal, being next in merit, was entitled to that seat The Court said the failure to migrate the candidate was:

Illegal

Unfair

And vitiated the entire selection process