Srinagar, July 23: The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has directed the Border Security Force (BSF) to appoint four Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, holding that relaxation in domicile eligibility cannot be used to deny appointments to more meritorious candidates belonging to the reserved category.

The Court ruled that extending domicile relaxation to candidates from other categories cannot override the constitutional rights of Scheduled Caste candidates who secured higher merit and were otherwise eligible for appointment.
The petitioners had challenged the recruitment process, contending that despite obtaining better merit, they were denied selection after the BSF extended domicile-related relaxation in a manner that adversely affected SC candidates.
After examining the recruitment rules and the selection process, the High Court observed that reservation policies are intended to ensure fair representation and cannot be diluted by administrative interpretation of relaxation clauses.
The Court held that domicile relaxation is a facilitative provision and cannot be interpreted in a way that defeats the rights of candidates selected on merit within the reserved category.
Setting aside the action to the extent it prejudiced the petitioners, the High Court directed the BSF to appoint all four SC candidates to the posts for which they were found eligible, along with all consequential benefits admissible under the rules.
The judgment reinforces the principle that recruitment authorities must strictly adhere to constitutional guarantees of equality and reservation, ensuring that procedural relaxations do not result in discrimination against deserving candidates.
The ruling is expected to have wider implications for future recruitment processes involving reservation and domicile-related relaxations in Jammu and Kashmir.