Bombay High Court Upholds Rules Prescribing Limit On Civil Services Attempts For Persons With Benchmark Disability Based On Caste Status

Challenging the restriction on the number of attempts for both categories, the petitioner contended that there cannot be discrimination between PwBD in OBC and SC/ST categories. He argued that PwBD is a class in itself and thus the classification between the SC/ST and OBC candidates is discriminatory and arbitrary.

A division bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Jusitce Ashwin D. Bhobe rejected the petitioner's contention and emphasized the distinct status of SC/ST in the Constitution.

The Court noted that while the reservations to PwBD under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 is a 'horizontal reservation', the reservation provided to SC/ST and OBC under the constitution is a 'vertical reservation'. The Court was of the view that though PwBD is a distinct class since it is a horizontal reservation, it would cut across the vertical reservation provided to SC/ST candidates.

On the difference in attempts between SC/ST and OBC categories, the Court opined that since SC/ST and OBC are two different classes, prescribing different criteria for them is not arbitrary. It stated, “SC/ST itself is a class which has a definite connotation in the Constitution and is distinct from the Other Backward Class (OBC) which has received recognition under the Constitution and by no stretch of imagination, can a person belonging to OBC category compare himself with a person from SC/ST category, as the two classes stand apart in the Constitution for the purposes of reservation.”

The Court observed that the Civil Services Examination Rules, 2024 continue with this distinction when it offers unlimited attempts for SC/ST candidates, whereas an OBC candidate is entitled to 9 attempts.

It thus observed that in a PwBD category, a candidate belonging to the SC/ST category would stand on a different footing than a candidate belonging to the OBC category.

“Therefore, when a PwBD reservation is availed by a candidate, the number of attempts to be availed by him would depend upon whether he belongs to SC/ST category or OBC category and this is why Rule 3 of the Civil Services Examination Rules, 2024, according to us do not create any further classification in the PwBD class as PwBD is a horizontal reservation, whereas the reservation for SC/ST and OBC is a vertical reservation.”

The Court thus dismissed the petition.

Case title: Dharmendra Kumar vs. Union of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, Department of Personnel & Ors (Writ Petition No.1834 Of 2024)

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Bom) 58