Observing that vacancies are not filled by “charity”, the Supreme Court has said the Government is not under any constitutional obligation to provide reservation to SCs, STs, etc, in preliminary tests conducted for filling up official posts.

“Judging of merit may be at several tiers. It may undergo several filtrations. Ultimately, the constitutional scheme is to have the candidates who would be able to serve the society and discharge the functions attached to the office. Vacancies are not filled up by way of charity,” the apex court said.

A bench of Justices S B Sinha and Cyriac Joseph said preliminary examination was not a part of the main examination and as such the rule of reservation available to socially disadvantaged sections could not be insisted on at a threshold stage.

“The merit of the candidate is not judged thereby. Only an eligibility criterion is fixed. The papers for holding the examination (preliminary) comprise of General Studies and Mental Ability. Such a test must be held to be necessary for the purpose of judging the basic eligibility of the candidates to hold the tests,” the apex court said.

The apex court passed the observation while rejecting the contention of certain reserved category students who challenged the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission’s (APPSC) refusal to provide reservation benefits at the preliminary exam stage for appointments of deputy collectors, commercial tax officers and other Group-I posts.