The Supreme Court has directed the Railway Board to disclose whether reserved-category candidates used relaxations before being placed in the unreserved merit list.
The dispute concerns recruitment in which some candidates who applied under reserved categories were ultimately selected against open seats. The Railways argued that the migration was valid, while the opposing side said candidates benefiting from relaxed standards could not displace unreserved candidates.
Finding the tribunal and High Court orders insufficiently clear on the underlying data, the Court sought a detailed affidavit. The Railways must state whether each selected candidate received any relaxation, whether qualifying thresholds differed by category in the computer-based tests, and whether migrated candidates independently met the higher unreserved benchmark.
The order postpones a final answer until the recruitment record is transparent. It focuses the case on equal standards rather than category labels alone. Four weeks were granted for the affidavit, with the matter listed for October 27.
