Kolkata: Calcutta High Court held on Tuesday that even if a candidate under the reserved category scored higher than the cut-off and was upgraded to the general category, he/she would continue to enjoy the benefits of the category.
The directive came after an SSC candidate, who made it to the first list of the 2025 SLST exam, moved the HC to restore her SC status even if she was upgraded to general category.
SSC senior counsel Kalyan Bandyopadhyay sought the court's permission to upgrade the candidate to the general category on the grounds that another SC candidate, with less marks, would miss the opportunity of being considered if the petitioner wanted to restore her SC status. Bandyopadhyay argued the idea of reservation was meant for the welfare of a community and not for an individual.
Justice Amrita Sinha took note that the petitioner had marked herself as a reserved category candidate while filling the form and had submitted Rs 200, a fee meant for that category. She referred to her Nov 27 order, in which the court held that once a candidate's category was final, the authorities could not "change it suo motu".