Uttarakhand High Court stays 30 per cent domicile reservation for women in State Services Exam

The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday stayed a government order (GO) which provided 30 per cent reservation in State services for women domiciled in the State [Ananya Attri & Ors v State]. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice RC Khulbe stayed the GO dated July 24, 2006 and allowed the petitioners to appear in the main examination..The petitioners had challenged the order on the ground that it created an Unreserved Uttarakhand Mahila Category which provided lower cut-off marks for women of the State to pass the preliminary examination. It was argued that the reservation deprived them of appearing in the main examination as they couldn't clear the prelims despite getting more marks than women who could avail the reservation. .The petitioners further submitted 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 Parliament. The counsel contended that the order was is in violation of the Articles 14, 16, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, as all the petitioners have secured more marks than the cut-off provided for Uttarakhand women in the preliminary examination.It was highlighted that all the petitioners were women and they were facing adverse discrimination by the State of Uttarakhand..According to the petition, the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission had, by way of a notification dated 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. In clause (8) of the advertisement notification, it was mentioned that horizontal reservation would not be applicable to women who were not domiciled in the State..Advocate Sugandha Jain was the arguing counsel for the lead petitioner.The other advocates were Kartikeya Hari Gupta and Pallavi Bahuguna. Deputy Advocate General KN Joshi represented the State, while Advocate Ashish Joshi argued for the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission..[Read Order]