Supreme Court of India
G. SRINIVAS RAOversusUNION OF INDIA & ORS.
- Citation
- 2011 INSC 502
- Decided
- 19 July 2011
- Disposal
- Dismissed
- Bench
- R V RAVEENDRAN
Holding
The roster system for IPS cadre allocation must be strictly followed, and the appellant’s delay precludes any relief; thus the High Court’s decision is affirmed.
Summary
The appellant, a general‑category candidate who secured the 95th rank in the 1998 Civil Services Examination, was allocated to the Manipur‑Tripura Joint IPS cadre, while an OBC candidate (respondent No.4) with the 133rd rank was allocated to the Andhra Pradesh cadre. The appellant claimed that the conversion of a general vacancy in Andhra Pradesh to an OBC vacancy, without five‑year OBC data, was illegal and sought re‑allocation to the Andhra Pradesh cadre. He filed an original application before the Central Administrative Tribunal in 2001, two years after his allocation, and the Tribunal dismissed his claim. The High Court also dismissed his writ petition, holding that the delay barred relief and that the roster system governing cadre allocation could not be bypassed. On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed that the roster system, as prescribed by the IPS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 and the 31 May 1985 Government letter, ensures equitable treatment and cannot be overridden; the appellant’s untimely filing precluded any remedial order. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.
Issues considered
- The legality of converting a general vacancy to an OBC vacancy in the Andhra Pradesh IPS cadre without five‑year OBC data.
- Whether the roster system for cadre allocation under the IPS (Cadre) Rules, 1954 and the 31 May 1985 Government letter can be deviated from.
- Whether the appellant’s delay in filing the original application bars any relief.
- Whether the High Court was correct in refusing relief to the appellant.
Legislation cited
- Constitution of Indias. Article 14, s. Article 16(1)
- Indian Police Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954s. Rule 3, s. Rule 5
Subjects
cadre allocationroster systemreservationOBCIndian Police Servicedelayservice lawequalityArticles 14 and 16
Judgment
[2011] 9 S.C.R. 313
"' ,I
G. SRINIVAS RAO A
v.
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
(Civil Appeal No. 1911 of 2006)
'f JULY 19, 2011
' B
[R.V. RAVEENDRAN AND A.K. PATNAIK, JJ.]
Service Law:
Indian Police Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954: c
rr. 3 and 5 read with clause (2) of Para 3 of Letter dated
31.5.1985 - Cadre allocation - Claim of a general category
candidate that allocation of the OBC candidate, who was
much below hitn in merit list, to Andhra Pradesh Cadre was 0
unjust and instead he should have been allocated to the.
Andhra Pradesh Cadre and not to Manipur- Tripura Joint
Cadre - HELD: It is reiterated_fh9t the roster system ensures
equitable treatment to both the general candidates and
reserved candidates and, thereore, the roster system cannot E
be by-passed on some ground or the other which may result
in unfair treatment to either general candidates or reserved
candidates in violation of their right to equality under Articles
14 and 16(1) of the Constitution - Nonetheless, in the instant
case, the claimant was a/located to the Manipur- Tripura F
Cadre on 27. 07. 1999 and was intimated about such a/location
by letter dated 02.10.1999 - Instead of challenging the
allocations made in 1999 at the earliest, he filed the O.A.
before the Tribunal only in 2001 by which time the 36
" " candidates including the OBC candidate concerned, who had G
been selected and appointed to the /PS on the basis of Civil
Services Examination, 1998 and had been allocated to
different cadres, had already joined their respective cadres
and undertaken training in their respective States, and any
313 H
314 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2011] 9 S.C.R.
A order of the Tribunal or the Court granting relief to the claimant
will disturb the allocation of several members of the /PS -
-
High Court was right in taking a view that no relief can be
granted to the claimant on the ground of delay on his part in
moving the Tribunal - Constitution of India, 1950 - Articles
8 14 and 16(1) - Delay/Laches - Central Government letter
dated 31.5.1985 - Para 3(2).
The appellant, a general category candidate, who
secured 95th rank in the Civil Services Examination, 1998
c conducted by the Union Public Service Commission,
was appointed to the IPS and was allocated to the
Manipur-Tripura Joint Cadre on 27.10.1999. Respondent
No.4, an OBC candidate, who secured 133rd rank in the
said Examination, was appointed to the IPS and was
o allocated to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre on 27.07.1999.
The appellant filed an O.A. before the Central
Administrative Tribunal in 2001, contending that instead
of respondent no.4 he should have been allocated to the
Andhra Pradesh Cadre and that the allocation of
E respondent no.4 to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre was bad
in law, unjust and unsustainable. Union of India, in its
additional affidavit, stated that a total number of 36
vacancies in the IPS were to be filled up on the basis of
the Civil Services Examination, 1998 out of which 21
F vacancies were to be filled up by general candidates, 10
vacancies were to be filled up by OBC candidates and 5
by SC/ST candidates. However, as per allocation, the total
number of vacancies for general candidates worked out
to be 23 instead of 21 and total number of vacancies for
G OBC candidates worked out to be 8 instead of 10 and, •
therefore, 2 vacancies for general candidates had to be
converted to 2 vacancies for OBC candidates. It was
further stated that as the relevant data for the last five
years in respect of OBC candidates was not available on
H
G. SRINIVAS RAO v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 315
28.05.1999 when the entire exercise of allocation was A
completed ana approved by the competent authority, the
earlier advice of the Department of Personnel and
Training was followed and two general vacancies from
the first two States in the alphabetical order, one from the
Andhra Pradesh Cadre and one from the Assam- B
Meghalaya Joint Cadre, were converted to OBC
vacancies and the result was that respondent no.4 was
allocated to the OBC vacancy of Andhra Pradesh Cadre.
The Tribunal dismissed the application of the appellant.
His writ petition was also dismissed by the High Court. C
Dismissing the appeal, the Court
HELD: 1.1. Rule 3 of the IPS (Cadre) Rules, 1954
provides that each State and a group of States will have
a State cadre or Joint Cadre respectively of the IPS; and D
Rule 5 provides that the Central Government in
consultation with the State Government or State
Governments concerned has the power to make
allocation of IPS officers to various cadres. In Para 3 of
the letter dated 31.05.1985 the broad principles which are E
to be followed for allocation on the basis of roster system
have been indicated by the Central Government. [para 7]
[323-D-F]
'. 1.2. It has not been shown as to how data for 5 years F
in respect of allocation of OBC candidates was relevant
for making the allocation when Clause (2) of Para 3 of the
letter dated 31.05.1985 required that a roster in each
cadre with vacancies for insider, outsider, general and
reserved candidates not exceeding prescribed G
percentage was required to be maintained and
allocations of candidates selected in the All India
Services were to be made in these vacancies earmarked
for insider, outsider, general candidates or reserved
H
316 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2011] 9 S.C.R.
A candidates. As has been held by this Court in Rajiv
Yadav's case*, the roster system ensures equitable
-
treatment to both the general candidates and reserved
candidates and hence the roster system cannot be by-
passed on some ground or the other which may result
B in unfair treatment to either general candidates or
reserved candidates in violation of their right to equality
under Articles 14 and 16(1) of the Constitution. [para 9]
[325-H; 326-A-C]
c *Union of India v. Rajiv Yadav, /AS and Others 1994 (2)
Suppl. SCR 30 = (1994) 6 SCC 38 - relied on.
1.3. Nonetheless, the appellant was allocated to the
Manipur-Tripura Cadre on 27.07.1999 and was intimated
about such allocation by letter dated 02.10.1999. Instead
D of challenging the allocations made in 1999 at the earliest,
the appellant filed the O.A. before the Tribunal only in 2001
by which time the 36 candidates including respondent
no.4, who had been selected and appointed to the IPS on
the basis of Civil Services Examination, 1998 and had
E been allocated to different cadres, had already joined
their respective cadres and undertaken training in their
respective States; and any order of the Tribunal or the
Court granting relief to the appellant will disturb the
F allocation of several members of the IPS. The High Court .·
was right in taking a view that no relief can be granted to
the appellant on the ground of delay on his part in moving
the Tribunal. [para 10-11] [326-D-H; 327-A-B]
R. K. Sabharwal and Others v. State of Punjab and
G Others 1995 (2) SCR 35 = (1995) 2 SCC 745; and M. Nagaraj , ....
v. Union of India 2006 (7) Suppl. SCR 336 = (2006) 8 SCC
212 - cited.
Case Law Reference:
H 1995 (2) SCR 35 cited para 4
G. SRINIVAS RAO v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 317
~
2006 (7) Suppl. SCR 336 cited para 4 A
1994 (2) Suppl. SCR 30 relied on para 9
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No.
1911 of 2006.
)' B
From the Judgment & Order dated 03.02.2005 of the High
Court of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad in W.P. No. 8072 of
2004.
G. Ramakrishna Prasad for the Appellant. c
Ugra Shankar Prasad, Sushma Suri, G.N. Reddy for the
Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
~
D
A. K. PATNAIK, J. 1. This is an appeal by special leave
under Article 136 of the Constitution against the order dated
03.02.2005 of the Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High
Court dismissing Writ Petition No.8072 of 2004 filed by the
appellant. E
2. The facts very briefly are that the appellant, a general
candidate not belonging to any reserved category, took the Civil
Services Examination, 1998 conducted by the Union Public
~
' Service Commission and he secured 95th rank and was F
appointed to the IPS and was allocated to the Manipur-Tripura
Joint Cadre on 27.10.1999. Respondent No.4, who as an OBC
candidate, also took the Civil Services Examination, 1998 and
secured 133rd rank and was appointed to the IPS and was
.... ~
allocated to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre on 27.07.1999. The G
appellant filed 0.A. No.155 of 2001 before the Central
Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad Bench, contending that
instead of respondent no.4 he should have been allocated to
the Andhra Pradesh Cadre and that the allocation of respondent
no.4 to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre was bad in law, unjust and H
318 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2011] 9 S.C.R.
A unsustainable. The appellant prayed for a direction from the
Tribunal to the respondent no.1 to allocate him to the Andhra
Pradesh Cadre. The Tribunal, however, did not find any
irregularity in the roster system followed by the respondent no.1
in making the allocations and by order dated 25.07.2001
B dismissed the O.A. The appellant challenged the order dated
25.07.2001 of the Tribunal before the High Court under Article
226 of the Constitution in Writ Petition No.17902 of 2002 and
contended that though there was in the year 1999 a vacancy
for a general candidate in the Andhra Pradesh Cadre to which
C the appellant could be allocated, this was converted to a
vacancy for OBC candidate and the respondent no.4 was
allocated to this vacancy in the Andhra Pradesh Cadre. The
appellant also contended before the High Court that this
vacancy for a general candidate was converted to a vacancy
D for OBC candidate on the ground that relevant data for five
years in respect of OBC was not available though actually such
data was available. Since this aspect of the matter had not been
considered by the Tribunal, the High Court allowed the Writ
Petition, set aside the order of the Tribunal and remanded the
E case to the Tribunal for fresh consideration.
3. After the case was remanded to the Tribunal, the
respondent no.1 filed a petition before the Tribunal seeking
leave to file an additional affidavit and pursuant to leave granted .·
F by the Tribunal, the respondent no.1 filed an additional affidavit.
In this additional affidavit, the respondent no.1 stated that a total
number of 36 vacancies in the IPS were to be filled up on the
basis of the Civil Services Examination, 1998 and out of total
number of 36 vacancies, 21 vacancies were to be filled up by
G general candidates, 10 vacancies were to be filled up by OBC
candidates and 5 vacancies were to be filled up by SC/ST
candidates in accordance with the reservation provisions and
the roster points and in May 1999, the vacancies were
distributed category-wise in the following manner:-
H
G. SRINIVAS RAO v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 319
[A.K. PATNAIK, J.]
A
S.L Cadre Total 27%0BC 22.5 %SCI Gene-
vacan- rounded ST rounded ral
cies off off
1. Andhra Pradesh 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
2. Assam Meghalaya 1 .27 0 .225 0 1 8
3. Bihar 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
4. Gujarat 3 .81 1 .675 1 1
5. Haryana 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
6. Himachal Pradesh 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
7. J&K 3 .81 1 .675 1 1
c
8. Karnataka 3 .81 1 .675 1 1
9. Kera la 2 .54 1 .450 0 1
, .
10. Madhya Pradesh
11. Maharashtra
1
1
.27
.27
0
0
.225 0
.225 0
1
1 D
12. Manipur Tripura 4 1.08 1 .900 . 1 2
13. Nagaland 2 .54 1 ·.450 0 1
14. Orissa 2 .54 1 .450 0 1
15. Punjab 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
16. Rajasthan 4 1.08 1 .900 1 2
17. Sikkim 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
18. Tamil Nadu 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
19. AGMU 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
20. Uttar Pradesh 1 .27 0 .225 0 1 F
21. West Bengal 1 .27 0 .225 0 1
Total 36 8 5 23
- Respondent no.1 further stated in the additional affidavit
that since as per the distribution made in the aforesaid table,
the total number of vacancies for general candidates worked
out to be 23 instead of 21 and total number of vacancies for
OBC candidates worked out to be 8 instead of 10, 2 vacancies
G
for general candidates had to be converted to 2 vacancies for
OBC candidates. The respondent no.1 has also stated in the H
A
320 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2011] 9 S.C.R.
additional affidavit that as the relevant data for the last five years
in respect of OBC candidates was not available with the
-
respondent on 28.05.1999 when the entire exercise of
allocation was completed and approved by the competent
authority and the data for four years, i.e. from the Civil Services
B Examinations, 1994 to Civil Services Examinations, 1995, was
available, the earlier advice of the Department of Personnel
and Training in Annexure R-1 to the additional affidavit of the
respondent no.1 was followed and two general vacancies from
the first two States in the alphabetical order, one from the
C Andhra Pradesh Cadre and one from the Assam-Meghalaya
Joint Cadre, were converted to OBC vacancies and the result
was that respondent no.4 was allocated to the OBC vacancy
of Andhra Pradesh Cadre. The Tribunal in its order dated
09.01.2004 accepted this explanation of the respondent no.1
D and rejected the argument of the appellant that the respondent
no.1 had arbitrarily taken a lower ranking candidate in
preference to high ranking general candidate while making the
allocation to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre. Aggrieved, the
appellant filed Writ Petition No.8072 of 2004 before the Andhra
E Pradesh High Court and contended that despite availability of
data pertaining to OBC candidates for five years, the
respondent no.1 did not consider the same while making the
allocation. In the impugned order, however, the High Court held
that this apprehension of the appellant was factually without any
F basis and did not find any fault with the order of the Tribunal. In
the impugned order, the High Court also took the view that the
appellant was required to implead all the candidates of his
batch of IPS, as respondents in the O.A. as well as in the Writ
Petition but had not done so and thus relief could not be
G granted to the appellant. The High Court further held in the
impugned order that the allocation of the appellant to the
Manipur-Tripura Joint Cadre was intimated to him by a letter
· dated 21.10.1999, but he filed the O.A. in 2001 and by the time
H the impugned order was passed, the officers would have
G. SRINIVAS RAO v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 321
[A.K. PATNAIK, J.]
. undergone attachment training and a wholesale or extensive A
review of the. cadre allocation at a belated stage would not be
conducive to public interest.
4. Mr. Ranjit Kumar, learned counsel for the appellant,
~
submitted that this Court has held in R. K. Sabharwal and B
Others v. State of Punjab and Others ((1995) 2 SCC 745) that
the prescribed percentage of reservation of posts for backward
classes cannot be varied or changed. He submitted that in M.
Nagaraj v. Union of India ((2006) 8 SCC 212) a Constitution
Bench of this Court has further observed that the reservation c
provision should not lead to excessiveness so as to breach the
ceiling limit of the reserved quota. He submitted that the
Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Personnel & Training
~
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, has in his letter
dated 31.05.1985 (hereinafter referred to as 'the letter dated D
31.05.1985) laid down the broad principles of allocation on the
basis of rc;>ster system which are to be followed while making
allocation of officers appointed to All India Services and a
reading of these principles of allocation would show that the
vacancies are to be reserved in various cadres according to E
prescribed percentage and, therefore, the prescribed
percentage of reservation including that of OBC cannot be
exceeded. He submitted that in Union of India v. Rajiv Yadav,
/AS and Others ((1994) 6 sec 38) this Court, after examining
the principles of cadre allocation in the letter dated 31.05.1985, F
held that the "Roster System" ensures equitable treatment to
both the general candidates and the reserved categories. He
referred to the Chart annexed as Annexure P/19 to show that
'
'1'
the percentage of OBC candidates allocated to the Andhra
Pradesh Cadre from Civil Services Examination 1994 to 1998 G
was as high as 33% which was far in excess of the 27%
reservation in favour of OBC. He vehemently argued that the
Chart in Annexure P/19 further shows that in various other State
cadres the total percentage of OBC candidates allocated from
H
322 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2011] 9 S.C.R.
A the Civil Services Examinations of 1994 to 1998 was less than
27% and, therefore, the respondent no.1 should not have
converted the vacancy for general candidate in Andhra Pradesh
Cadre to a vacancy for OBC candidate. According to Mr. Ranjit
Kumar, since there is breach of the principles of allocation and
B the roster system as laid down in the letter dated 31.05.1985
and the allocation of respondent no.4 to the Andhra Pradesh
Cadre was in excess of the 27% quota for OBC, this is a fit
case in which this Court should quash the allocation of the
respondent no.4 and instead direct respondent no.1 to allocate
C the appellant to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre.
5. Mr. Mohan Parasaran, learned Additional Solicitor
General, on the other hand, submitted that the impugned order
of the Tribunal should not be disturbed as it contains good
D reasons for not interfereing in the allocation of the officers of
the 1999 batch of IPS. He submitted that while distributing the
vacancies in an All India Service, the Central Government has
to consider plurality of choices 'ind allocating two OBC
vacancies to the cadres of States which were first two in the
E alphabetical order is one of the choices open to the Central
Government when relevant data for the last five years in respect
of the OBC candidates was not available when the exercise of
allocation was completed and approved by the competent
authority. He submitted that the decision of this Court in R. K.
F Sabharwal and Others v. State of Punjab and Others (supra),
cited by Mr. Ranjit Kumar, relates to maintenance of roster for
the purpose of reservation of posts and may have relevance
for the appointment to the IPS but has no relevance to allocation
of members of the All India Service to different cadres after their y
G appointment.
6. Mr. Neeraj Kumar Jain, learned counsel appearing for
respondent no.4, contended that the equitable distribution of
vacancies for general candidates and reserved candidates is
H
G. SRINIVAS RAO v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 323
[A.K. PATNAIK, J.]
required to be ensured by the letter dated 31.05.1985 over a A
period· of time and not every time the allocation is made to a
cadre and thus the contention of the appellant that the allocation
of the respondent no.4 to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre has not
ensured such equitable distribution is not correct. He further
submitted that in any case the allocations of respondent no.4 B
to the Andhra Pradesh Cadre and the appellant to the Manipur-
Tripura Cadre were made as far back as in the year 1999 and
the appellant filed the O;A. after two years in 2001 and that too
after he accepted the allocation and the High Court rightly held
that the allocation made in the year 1999 could not be disturbed c
by a challenge to the allocations in 2001. He finally submitted
that respondent no.4 has been working in the Andhra Pradesh
Cadre since 1999 and should not be disturbed at this stage
by this Court.
D
7. We have considered the submissions of the learned
counsel for the parties and we find that Rule 3 of the IPS
(Cadre) Rules, 1954 provides that each State and a group of
· States will have a State cadre or Joint Cadre respectively of
the IPS and Rule 5 of the Cadre Rules provides that the Central E
Government in consultation with the State Government or State
Governments concerned has the power to make allocation of
IPS officers to various cadres. We further find that in Para 3 of
the letter dated 31.05.1985 the broad principles which are to
... be followed for allocation on the basis of roster system have F
been indicated by the Central Government. Clauses (2) of Para
3, on which Mr. Ranjit Kumar placed reliance, is extracted
hereinbelow:-
:;. "(2) The vacancies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled G
"' Tribes will be reserved in the various cadres according to
the prescribed percentage. For purpose of this reservation,
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be grouped
together and the percentage will be added. Distribution of
H
324 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2011) 9 S.C.R.
A reserved vacancies in each cadre between 'outsiders' and
'insiders' will be done in the ratio 2:1. This ratio will be
operationalised by following a cycle 'outsider, 'insider',
'outsider' as is done in the case of general candidates."
B It will be clear from Clause (2) of Para 3 of the letter dated
31.05.1985 that the vacancies for Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes are to be reserved in the various cadres
according to the prescribed percentage and distribution of
reserved vacancies in each cadre between outsiders and
c insiders are to be done in the ratio of 2:1 and this ratio is to
be operationalised by following a cycle outsider, insider,
outsider as is done in the cases of general candidates. What
is, therefore, contemplated by Clause (2) of Para 3 of the letter
dated 31.05.1985 is that a roster for each cadre, with
D vacancies earmarked for outsider and insider and for general
candidates and reserved candidates is maintained and
allocations of outsider, insider, general and reserved
candidates are made to these earmarked vacancies. It will be
further clear from Clause (2) of Para 3 that the vacancies for
E the reserved categories are not to exceed the prescribed
percentage for the reserved category 'in the various cadres'.
8. The case of the respondent no.1 in the additional
affidavit filed before the Tribunal was that in accordance with
F the reservation provisions and the roster points as explained
by this Court in R. K. Sabharwal and Others v. State of Punjab
and Others (supra), 36 candidates were selected to the IPS,
out of whom 21 were general candidates, 10 were OBC
candidates and 5 were SC/ST candidates. These 36
G candidates were to be allocated to the different State and Joint
Cadres and were initially proposed to be distributed in May,
1999 in the manner given in the Chart in Para 3 of this
judgment, but the authorities found that by distribution of
vacancies, only 8 out of 10 selected OBC candidates could be
H
. G. SRINIVAS RAO v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 325
[A.K. PATNAIK, J.)
accommodated in the different cadres and 23 instead of 21 A
selected general candidates would get accommodated in the
different cadres. It was, therefore, necessary for the competent
authority to increase 2 vacancies to adjust 2 more OBC
candidates and reduce 2 vacancies proposed for general
candidates so that ultimately the 10 OBC candidates could be B
allocated to 10 vacancies in different cadres and 21 general
candidates could be allocated to 21 vacancies in different
·. cadres. The competent authority accordingly diverted two
. vacancies for general candidates, one from the Andhra
Pradesh Cadre and one from the Assam-Meghalaya Joint c
Cadre, to vacancies for accommodating two more OBC
candidates selected for appointment. The reason for choosing
the Andhra Pradesh Cadre and the Assam-Meghalaya Joint
Cadre for. converting two vacancies
.
for g,eneral
.·
·candidates to
1
vacancies for OBC candidates is that·when the allocation was D·
finalized by. the competent· authority. pn ,28.05.'1999,' relevant
. data in respect of OBC candidates was available only for four
years, Le. from Civil Services Examination, 1994 to Civil
Services Examination, 1997, but was not available for the fifth
year because allocation for .the fifth ·year on the basis of Civil E
Services Examination, 1998 was yet to be notified and
·ultimately got notified in 'October, 1999. Respondent No.1 has
further explained in his additional affidavit filed before the
Tribunal that 'the Andhra Pradesh Cadre and the Assam-
~
Meghalaya Joint Cadre were chosen for diversion of the two
F
vacancies for accommodating two OBC candidates in
accordance with an earlier advice of the Department of
Personnel and Training annexed to the affidavit is Annexure R-
1 to follow the alphabetical order while choosing the States for
._.' G
decrease or increase in OBC vacancies in the absence of data
" for 5 years in relation to OBC allocation.
9. We fail to appreciate how data for 5 years in respect of
allocation of OBC candidates was relevant for making lhe
allocation when Clause (2) of Para 3 of the letter dated H
326 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2011) 9 S.C.R.
A 31.05.1985 required that a roster in each cadre with vacancies
for insider, outsider, general and reserved candidates not
exceeding prescribed percentage was required to be
maintained and allocations of candidates selected in the All
India Services were to be made in these vacancies earmarked
B for insider, outsider, general candidates or reserved
candidates. As has been held by this Court in Union of India
v. Rajiv Yadav, /AS and Others (supra), the roster system
ensures equitable treatment to both the general candidates and
reserved candidates and hence the roster system cannot be by-
e passed on some ground or the other which may result in unfair
treatment to either general candidates or reserved candidates
in violation of their right to equality under Articles 14 and 16(1)
of the Constitution.
D 10. Nonetheless, we find that the appellant was allocated
to the Manipur-Tripura Cadre on 27.07.1999 and was intimated
about such allocation by letter dated 02.10.1999. Instead of
challenging the allocations made in 1999 at the earliest, the
appellant filed the O.A. before the Tribunal only in 2001 by which
E time the 36 candidates including the respondent no.4, who had
been selected and appointed to the IPS on the basis of Civil
Services Examination, 1998 and had been allocated to different
cadres, had already joined their respective cadres and
undertaken training in their respective States. The High Court
F thus held in the impugned order that the wholesale or extensive
review of the cadre allocation at a belated stage was not
conducive to public interest. For granting relief to the appellant,
the Tribunal or the Court will have to direct the respondent No.1
to undertake afresh the exercise of allocation in accordance
G with the roster system as provided in the letter dated .,
31.05.1985 and allocate the 36 officers of the IPS appointed
on the basis of the Civil Services Examinations, 1998 and such
an exercise will disturb the allocation of several members of the
IPS.
H
G. SRINIVAS RAO v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 327
[A.K. PATNAIK, J.]
11. In our considered opinion, therefore, the High Court was A
right in taking a view that no relief can be granted to the
appellant on the ground of delay on the part of the appellant in
movii1g the Tribunal. The appeal is therefore dismissed. No
order as to costs.
B
R.P. Appeal dismissed.
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