Later Special Rule prevails on recruitment quota, so the prescribed ratio applies to vacancies, not cadre strength.

A later Special Rule prescribing a fixed quota and a no-backlog arrangement for Medical Officer (Homeopathy) appointments prevails over the earlier General Rule on quota computation. Because Rule 2 of the General Rules makes a repugnant Special Rule controlling for that service, the prescribed ratio was applied to the vacancies notified rather than to the cadre strength. Earlier decisions under the General Rules were inapplicable since they involved a different statutory sequence. The operative principle is that a specific later Special Rule governs recruitment allocation for the particular service.

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Issues: Whether the quota for direct recruitment and transfer appointments to the post of Medical Officer (Homeopathy) under the Special Rules had to be worked out with reference to the cadre strength or the vacancies actually available.

Analysis: The later amendment to the Special Rules introduced a specific ratio for appointments to the post of Medical Officer (Homeopathy) and also provided that where transfer-category candidates were unavailable, the backlog would not be restored. The General Rules contained a general principle that quota-based recruitment should ordinarily be computed with reference to cadre strength, but Rule 2 of the General Rules expressly provides that where a Special Rule is repugnant to the General Rules, the Special Rule prevails for that service. The later special provision governing Medical Officers was therefore not controlled by the earlier general rule. The earlier decisions on quota computation under the General Rules did not apply because those cases involved Special Rules earlier in time than the general amendment.

Conclusion: The ratio of 5:1:1:1 had to be applied to the vacancies notified, not to the cadre strength, and the Special Rules prevailed over the General Rules.

Ratio Decidendi: When a later Special Rule for a particular service expressly provides a quota and a no-backlog arrangement, it prevails over an earlier general quota rule, and the prescribed ratio is applied to existing vacancies rather than cadre strength.

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