No grace marks to reserved candidates to join general category: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday said the benefit of grace marks cannot be granted to a reserved category candidate to let him join the general candidates in a departmental examination.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna set aside a judgement of the Rajasthan High Court, acting on an appeal filed by the Union government.

The Centre here questioned the validity of a direction to award grace marks to a reserved category and treat him in general class in the departmental examination, conducted by the Central Board of Direct Taxes for promotion as Income Tax inspectors. The candidate here had already got the threshold marks fixed for those belonging to Scheduled Tribes class.

Also Read | Reserved category to be treated general on getting more marks: SC

The top court noted that the CBDT introduced the grace marks policy with the purpose of enabling the marginally failing candidates to pass the examination.

"Once the candidate passed in his own category, there was no question of allowing/granting him any further grace marks," the court added.

Granting the grace marks in the case would be beyond the object and purpose of granting grace marks and beyond the policy declared by CBDT, the court added.

"Only in a case where any candidate belonging to any category is marginally failing to pass the examination, he is/was to be allowed the grace marks so as to allow him to obtain the minimum passing marks required and that too by allowing up to five grace marks," the bench noted.

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