CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has held that the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC)’s 2024-25 recruitment advertisement for medical officers violates the constitutional 50 per cent ceiling on reservations laid down by the Supreme Court.
The ruling came on March 17, while considering a petition filed by 82 applicant doctors challenging the advertisement pertaining to recruitment in the Odisha Medical and Health Services Cadre which OPSC had issued on March 18, 2025.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Buddhadev Routray argued the advertisement disproportionately inflated reserved category vacancies compared to 411 unreserved (UR) posts, thereby breaching established reservation norms.
Upon examining the figures, the single judge bench of Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy noted that while 411 posts were earmarked for the unreserved category, a total of 4,837 posts were allocated to reserved categories, including 736 for SEBC, 920 for SC and 2,481 for ST, making a total of 5,248 posts. The court held that such distribution exceeds the 50 per cent reservation ceiling established by the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney vs Union of India.
Observing that the advertisement could not have been issued in this manner, Justice Satapathy nonetheless took into account the state’s pressing healthcare needs. It permitted the OPSC to recommend 411 candidates from the unreserved category and an equal number from reserved categories, proportionately distributed as per reservation norms.
Earlier, the court had allowed the recruitment process to proceed but restrained finalisation of results. During the hearing, advocate general Pitambar Acharya highlighted the acute shortage of doctors in the state and urged the court to permit completion of the recruitment process.
Senior advocate PK Mohanty appearing for the OPSC submitted that the advertisement was based on a government requisition citing 4,919 backlog vacancies and 329 non-joining vacancies. It was also informed that the recruitment process had been completed, but results were withheld due to the court’s interim order.
While vacating the interim order, Justice Satapathy further allowed the state government to fill additional reserved category posts from backlog vacancies after receiving recommendations from the commission.