Supreme Court – Relaxation in Eligibility Criteria  Vs.  Merit Determination

A relaxation or concession in the qualifying examination merely creates a level playing field where no concession or relaxation is granted in the ultimate selection and the same is solely made on the basis of inter se merit.

The appellants who admittedly are more meritorious than the last selected candidate under the general category, cannot be excluded from consideration under the general category, in the absence of any express prohibition in the Recruitment Rules/notification. The relaxation in qualifying criteria only affects eligibility and not merit and migration is permissible in the absence of any prohibition.

The petitioners had availed relaxation in the qualifying marks in Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) and passed main selection process.

The question is whether the reserved category candidates, who had availed relaxation in qualifying examination for main selection process, are entitled to migrate to open category on the basis of merit secured in the main examination.

Judgment dated 23.3.2026 of the Supreme Court in SLP Nos.14517-14539 of 2025 of Chaya and others   Vs.   The State of Maharashtra and another