SC lifts HC stay on 30%v domicile quota for women in state services

The Supreme Court on Friday in an interim order stayed the Uttarakhand High Court order which had put on hold the government’s decision to provide 30 per cent reservation to women domiciled in Uttarakhand in State civil services.
A bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian also issued notice on the Uttarakhand government’s plea which challenged the August 24 order of the High Court. The State of Uttarakhand has challenged in the top court the interim order passed by the division bench of the High Court staying the 2006 order of the State of Uttarakhand.
The High Court order had come on a petition filed by more than a dozen women candidates from outside the State who were under the unreserved category.
The women said they were not allowed to appear for the State services main examination despite securing more marks than the cut-off set for domicile women of the State in the preliminary test held on April 3 this year.
The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission had, by way of a notification on August 10, 2021, advertised the Uttarakhand Combined State (Civil)/Pravar Sub-Ordinate Service Examination 2021 and listed 224 vacancies for various posts in about 31 departments.
The petitioners contended that the State government did not have the power to provide domicile-based reservation and that the Constitution of India only allowed reservation on the basis of domicile only by a law enacted by the parliament.
The petition pointed out that the High Court has not taken into consideration the fact that the government order of 2006 was not challenged for around 15 years.