Reservation policy in a Union territory can include migrant Scheduled Caste candidates where constitutional and administrative instructions permit it.

A Union territory administered by the President may extend reservation benefits to Scheduled Caste candidates who migrated from other States, where its policy and Central Government instructions treat them as eligible for reserved posts. The analysis distinguishes a Union territory from a State under Part VIII of the Constitution and explains that Article 341 identifies Scheduled Castes in relation to a State or Union territory but does not bar a territory from adopting an inclusive reservation policy. It also notes that the rule in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao, which concerned inter-State migration, cannot be mechanically applied to such a Union territory, and that Article 16(4) remains an enabling provision.

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Issues: (i) Whether Scheduled Caste candidates who migrated to the Union Territory of Pondicherry from other States could be treated as eligible for posts reserved for Scheduled Castes in that Union Territory. (ii) Whether the Tribunal was right in applying the principle in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao to invalidate the selection and appointment of such candidates.

Issue (i): Whether Scheduled Caste candidates who migrated to the Union Territory of Pondicherry from other States could be treated as eligible for posts reserved for Scheduled Castes in that Union Territory.

Analysis: The scheme of Part VIII of the Constitution shows that a Union territory is administered by the President through an administrator and is not to be equated with a State. The Court noted the long-standing governmental policy and circulars of the Union and Pondicherry administrations treating SC/ST candidates from outside Pondicherry as eligible for reserved posts in the administration. It further held that Article 341 identifies Scheduled Castes in relation to a State or Union territory, but does not prohibit a Union territory from adopting a policy extending reservation benefits to migrant SC/ST candidates where the administration functions under the President and follows Central Government instructions.

Conclusion: Such migrant Scheduled Caste candidates were eligible for consideration against reserved posts in Pondicherry, and the selection was not invalid on that ground.

Issue (ii): Whether the Tribunal was right in applying the principle in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao to invalidate the selection and appointment of such candidates.

Analysis: The Court held that the ratio of Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao, which concerned migration from one State to another State, could not be mechanically extended to a Union territory administered by the President. Since Pondicherry had consistently followed Central Government instructions extending reservation benefits to SC/ST candidates irrespective of State of origin, the Tribunal erred in treating the selection as contrary to law. The Court also observed that Article 16(4) is an enabling provision and does not prevent a Union territory from adopting such a reservation policy.

Conclusion: The Tribunal incorrectly applied Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao, and its order could not stand.

Final Conclusion: The selection of migrant Scheduled Caste candidates against reserved vacancies in Pondicherry was held to be legally valid, and the order setting it aside was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A Union territory administered by the President may, consistently with Articles 16(4), 239 and 341 of the Constitution, extend reservation benefits to migrant Scheduled Caste candidates under its policy and Central Government instructions; the rule applicable to migration between States does not automatically govern such a Union territory.

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