ition No 5858 of 1983
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India GL Sanghi MT Siddiqi and Irfan Ahmed for the Petitioners
Anil Dev Singh C Ramesh K Swami and Miss A Subhashini for the Respondents
The following order of the Court was delivered O R D E R The Petitioner is a member of Delhi Higher Judicial Service at present working as Additional district Judge
The petitioner was directly recruited to service as a Scheduled Castes candidate
He has approached this Court by means of this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution with a grievance that the High Court of Delhi has acted in an unreasonable manner in refusing to grant selection grade to him on more than one occasion
A number of other allied questions were raised during the course of arguments but ultimately on behalf of the petitioner only the grievance relating to the refusal of selection grade was pressed
Having heard learned counsel for the parties at a length and having perused the records and also the annual confidential reports awarded to the petitioner and other papers produced on behalf of the High Court we find it difficult to hold that the High Court has acted unreasonably in refusing to grant selection grade to the petitioner
Admittedly grant of selection grade was considered on the criteria of merit to the members of Delhi Higher Judicial Service
Whenever a post in the selection grade was available the High Court considered the petitioner along with other officers but on a comparative assessment of merit of eligible officers it granted selection grade to the officers who were junior to the petitioner and in that process the petitioner stood superseded
Where promotion to higher grade or post is made on the criteria of merit many a time junior officer is bound to supersede his senior in the process of assessment of comparative merit which may result in supersession of a senior officer
This cannot be helped since the petitioner s case was considered on merit along with others
and as 615 the High Court found officers junior to the petitioner suitable for grant of selection grade the petitioner could not be selected
We find no illegality in the High Court s orders
However we would like to refer one aspect which needs consideration
On a perusal of the confidential character roll entries and other papers produced before us on behalf of the High Court we find that since March 1979 to July 1980 the monthly statement of work done by the petitioner as assessed by the High Court on the basis of the report of the District Judge shows that the High Court rated his work and conduct as good and for the years 1982 83 1983 84 1984 85 1985 86 and 1986 87 the petitioner has been awarded B  grading
No doubt he has not earned A  grading but the confidential reports show that he is an honest officer
Integrity of a judicial officer is a great asset to administration of justice it must be given due weight
The petitioner comes from a weaker section of the society and he has been found to be an honest officer this fact needs consideration
In our opinion the High Court should consider the petitioner s case sympathetically for the grant of selection grade in the light of our observations at the next selection
Writ petition is disposed of accordingly there will be no order as to costs
NVK Petition disposed of


Summary:
 One hundred seats out of the total seats available in the MBBSBDS courses were reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates for whom the Indian Medical Council had prescribed by its Regulation II a minimum of 40 per cent marks for eligibility of admission
The Government of Punjab by a notification dated May 8 1987 lowered the percentage of the pass marks for the said candidates from 40 per cent to 35 per cent as against a minimum of SO per cent marks for the general category candidates
on the basis of selection test held only 32 qualified candidates of the reserved category were available
The prospectus published by the university for the competitive examinations provided that the seats left vacant in any reserved category owing to the non availability of the eligible candidates may be filled up from the eligible candidates of the general category
Accordingly the remaining seats out of 100 should have reverted to the general pool of the eligible candidates
But the government issued an order dated July 28 1987 whereby the percentage of pass marks for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates was lowered from 35 per cent to 25 per cent for the 1987 session only
The appellants challenged the above said orders of the government before the High Court which dismissed the Writ Petition filed by them
The appellants appealed this Court by special leave
Dismissing the appeal the Court 245  HELD If the Regulation 11 of the Indian Medical Council is found to be binding then the impugned orders of the government would be bad but the Regulation is merely in the nature of a recommendation and the language used in the Regulation is deliberate intended to indicate the intention of the Council as inter alia held by a three Judge Bench of this Court in The State of MP and Anr
vs Kumari Nivedita Jain and Ors  That was a similar case as this one and the appellants are not entitled to make any grievance on this score249D 250 The State Government had intended that 100 seats should go to the candidates of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
When that number of the candidates has not available reduction in the qualifying marks had to be effected and the government s action cannot be said to be arbitrary
251 D E After the percentage in the qualifying standard was reduced all the remaining 68 seats have been filled up by the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes candidates and teaching has begun
These 68 candidates are not before the Court not having been impleaded
It is not open to the Court to cancel their admission behind their back nor would it be possible to require the State Government to create additional seats to accommodate the appellants
251F OBSERVATION The standard of medical profession should not be compromised in the national interest
There has been a perceptible fall in the national standards and general efficiency of the professional men
While it is not necessary to say anything against reservation the Court approves of the concern shown by the Indian Medical Council that high standards of efficiency should be maintained and that can only be possible if the State and the Council cooperate to maintain a high standard
This aspect should be kept in view when the guidelines are prescribed for the selection of the students for the medical courses
The impugned notification of the State Government shows that the reduction is confined to one year 1987 only
It is hoped there would be no necessity for a repetition of this action
251G H 252A B State of MP and Anr
vs Kumari Nivedita lain and Ors
   State of Kerala vs Kumari TP Roshana  Anr  and Krishna Priya Ganguly etc
vs University of Lucknow  246 Ors
   referred to