Reservation benefits cannot be claimed after selection process ends, says Uttarakhand HC

In a significant ruling, the Uttarakhand High Court has held that a candidate cannot claim the benefit of reservation after the completion of a recruitment process if the claim was not made at the appropriate stage.

The judgment was delivered by a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari while dismissing a petition challenging the selection to the post of Assistant Teacher Primary in the science stream.

The petitioner had questioned the appointment of a candidate selected for Champawat district, arguing that the selected candidate had secured lower marks. He sought to quash the selection list published on January 28, 2026 , cancel the appointment and direct authorities to appoint him instead on the basis of merit.

The state government informed the court that the selected candidate had been appointed under the Statehood Activists Scheme , which provides 10 percent horizontal reservation in state services to Uttarakhand statehood activists and their dependents. The recruitment advertisement had clearly stated that horizontal reservation would apply as per government orders.

Although the petitioner claimed that he also belonged to the statehood activist category, the court noted that he had failed to claim the benefit during the selection process . The bench observed that a candidate cannot later allege denial of reservation benefits if such a claim was not made at the relevant stage.

The court further clarified that since the respondent was appointed under a specific reserved category, his merit cannot be directly compared with that of a general category candidate . Finding no procedural irregularity, the court dismissed the plea.