Telangana High Court affirms ‘local candidate’ status for police constable aspirant

Siding with the candidate, the court’s decision centred on a precise interpretation of the term ‘local candidate’ and the minimum educational qualifications required for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) applicants.

The case stemmed from a recruitment advertisement dated December 31, 2015. The respondent, a woman candidate from the SC category, was initially recognised as a local candidate of Hyderabad district by a single bench of the high court. The Appellant TSLPRB subsequently challenged this, arguing that under the Presidential Order, she was ineligible because she had not completed the last four years of her education in Hyderabad preceding her Class 10 Board.

The respondent’s counsel, Avadesh Narayan Sanghi, argued that while the respondent had passed the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam, she had also studied for and appeared in the Intermediate examination (Class 11 and 12). Since she had studied for five years within the Hyderabad district, starting from Class 7, she met the criteria to be considered a local candidate. The counsel for the appellant then submitted that the minimum educational qualification for SC candidates should be read as prescribing SSC or its equivalent as the relevant qualifying examination, whereas for general candidates, it was Intermediate.

Upon review, the high court concurred with the respondent’s argument. The judgment clarified that for SC/ST candidates, the minimum educational qualification is not limited to the SSC or its equivalent. The court found that the advertisement’s Clause 11 specifically requires that a candidate must also have studied Intermediate and appeared for both the first and second-year exams. The only distinction for SC/ST candidates, as noted by the court, is that they are not required to have passed the Intermediate exam, unlike other applicants.

The court stated that if the rule were to be interpreted as the Appellant Board suggested, the subsequent part of the clause requiring candidates to have studied Intermediate would be rendered unnecessary. The court reasoned, “Had it been so, there was no necessity to add the later part of the clause starting from ‘and the candidate to have studied Intermediate and appeared for Intermediate exam in both the first and second year’.”

The judgment noted, “In the present case, the petitioner has not only studied in both the years of Intermediate but has passed also and in that process she has studied in the local area of Hyderabad for 5 years since class 7.”

Dismissing the appeal, the court stated, “We do not find any error to interfere in the impugned judgment (of the writ court).”

The Counsel for the petitioner told indianexpress.com, “This case would become reference in a guideline to other similar considerations that is to be done in the future.”