Cuttack, April 13: Orissa High Court has ruled that scheduled-caste category candidates without required eligibility cannot be accommodated in unreserved-category seats when eligible general-category candidates are not available.

The court gave the ruling recently in case of admission to postgraduate courses in SCB Dental College and Hospital here from the merit list prepared by the All India Dental Entrance Examination for admission to MDS courses - 2016.

The court quashed the admission of a scheduled-caste candidate in an unreserved category seat and ordered for fresh counselling for the seat.

There were six seats to be filled in under the state quota of which three were to be filled from among the direct candidates and three from in-service candidates.

In-service candidates are those who had completed three years of service in the state after completing bachelor's degree in dental surgery (BDS).

Of the three direct candidate vacancies, one was reserved for scheduled-tribe category and two for unreserved category students. All the three seats for in-service candidates were of unreserved category.

Candidates for direct category were available and all three seats were duly filled in. As general candidates for the three in-service category seats were not available, a scheduled caste candidate was selected for admission.

Subsequently, two direct candidates who belonged to unreserved category challenged the admission in the high court on the ground that the scheduled-caste candidate had not secured the required 50 per cent marks.

Though 40 per cent marks was an eligibility criterion for the reserved category seats in the case of unreserved category it was 50 per cent.

The petitioners, who were direct candidates, had claimed that they were eligible for the in-service seats as they had scored more than 50 per cent marks. Besides, the guideline provides that in case of non-availability of candidates against in-service seats, the seats shall be filled up by direct candidate and vice versa, the petitioners contended.

The admission authorities pleaded that the scheduled-caste category candidate -Rashmita Majhi - was the only in-service candidate available. But the court quashed the admission given to Majhi.

In its ruling, the division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Satan and Justice B.R. Sarangi said: "Since Rashmita Majhi has secured less than 50 per cent marks, she could not be selected or be eligible for admission to the unreserved-category seat. As such, we are of the view that the order granting admission to her to the unreserved seat deserves to be quashed as she did not fulfil the eligibility criteria for admission to such seat".

"No doubt it is true that Rashmita Majhi was the only in-service candidate available, but it is noteworthy that all three seats meant for in-service candidates were for unreserved-category candidates. Admittedly, the qualification or eligibility meant for admission to unreserved category seats, which was minimum 50 per cent marks, would be applicable for all unreserved-category seats, whether under direct or in-service quota," the judges said in the March 30 order, a copy of which was made available today.