Sadhana Singh Dangi vs Pinki Asati on 16 December, 2021
“26. The principle that candidates belonging to any of the
vertical reservation categories are entitled to be
selected in “Open or General Category” is well settled. It
is also well accepted that if such candidates belonging to
reserved categories are entitled to be selected on the
basis of their own merit, their selection cannot be
counted against the quota reserved for the categories for
vertical reservation that they belong. Apart from the
extracts from the decisions of this Court in Indra
Sawhney2 and R.K. Sabharwal3 the observations by the
Constitution Bench of this Court in V.V. Giri v. D. Susi
2 Indra Sawhney vs. Union of India, 1992 Supp (3) SCC 217
3 R.K. Sabharwal vs. State of Punjab, (1995) 2SCC 745
18
Dora4, though in the context of election law, are quite
noteworthy: (AIR pp. 1326-27, paras 21-22)
“21. … In our opinion, the true position is that a
member of a Scheduled Caste or Tribe does not
forego his right to seek election to the general
seat merely because he avails himself of the
additional concession of the reserved seat by
making the prescribed declaration for that
purpose. The claim of eligibility for the reserved
seat does not exclude the claim for the general
seat; it is an additional claim; and both the
claims have to be decided on the basis that there
is one election from the double-Member
constituency.