Nainital, February 26 The Uttarakhand High Court has ruled that a candidate who fails to claim the benefits of reservation during the selection process cannot later complain about being denied it.
A single-judge bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari dismissed a petition challenging the selection process for the post of Assistant Teacher (Primary) in the science stream.
The court found no grounds to interfere with the appointment made under the horizontal reservation category provided to Uttarakhand statehood activists.
The petitioner had participated in the recruitment process and contended that a candidate selected for the Champawat district was appointed despite securing lower marks than him.
Through his petition, the petitioner sought to quash the selection list published on January 28, 2026, cancel the respondent's appointment and seek directions for his own appointment based on merit.
The state government told the court that the selected candidate had availed the benefits of the Statehood Activists Scheme. This scheme provides 10 per cent horizontal reservation in state services to Uttarakhand statehood activists and their dependents. The appointment in question was made under this category.
The recruitment advertisement had explicitly stated that horizontal reservation would be applicable as per government orders. While the petitioner claimed that he also belonged to the statehood activist category, he had failed to claim this benefit during the selection process.
The court ruled that a candidate cannot complain about the lack of such reservation benefits without claiming them at the appropriate stage. It further noted that since the respondent was appointed under a specific reserved category, his merit cannot be compared directly with that of a general category candidate.