Justice P. Madhavi Devi of Telangana High Court on Friday directed the State government to follow the principle of horizontal reservation for selection of women candidates for Group-I posts under 33.33% quota of women reservation.
The judge said compliance with horizontal reservation for women candidates was mandatory in the light of the verdict delivered by the Supreme Court in Rajesh Kumar Dania vs Rajathan Public Service Commission and others case. The order was passed after hearing the writ petition filed by K. Rohith and D. Balakrishna seeking to declare the action of the State government and the Telangana State Public Service Commission in following vertical reservation principle for women candidates in Group-I recruitment as illegal and arbitrary.
The TSPSC issued notification on this April 26 for selection of candidates for Group-I services. The petitioners wanted the HC to instruct the government to follow horizontal reservation for women candidates and set aside the system of following 100 roster points prescribed in Rules 22 AND 22-A of Telangana State and Subordinate Service Rules-1996.
Advocate General B.S. Prasad, appearing for the State government, said the Telangana government decided to follow vertical reservation system to select candidates under women reservation quota with the avowed purpose of recruiting more number of women candidates in Group-I services.
Mr. Prasad informed the bench that a counter affidavit would be filed by the State government on the matter explaining its contentions.
Nutrition kits tender
In a separate matter, Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the HC directed the State government not to finalise the bids invited for supply of KCR Nutrition Kits till September 28. The judge passed the order after hearing a petition filed by M/s LAAN e-Governance and Education Private Limited challenging the specifications relating to the nutrition kits tenders.
The petitioner contended that the specifications were favourable to a particular company. The counsel for Telangana State Medical Service and Infrastructure Corporation, however, said no such specification was introduced in the tender. The judge said the bidding process can be continued but instructed the government not to finalise the tenders.
