Unreserved Horizontal PwD Posts Open to All Meritorious Candidates with Disabilities: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has ruled that unreserved posts horizontally reserved for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) are open to all candidates with disabilities, regardless of their vertical category (SC/ST/OBC).

The Bench held that "Unreserved" signifies a merit-based pool.

If a PwD candidate from a reserved category outscores a general-category PwD candidate, the more meritorious candidate must be appointed.

The Court emphasized that denying selection to a more qualified individual based solely on their social category is arbitrary and violates the right to equality, provided they have not availed themselves of specific relaxations for the UR post.

[West Bengal State Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. v. Dipendu Biswas & Ors.]