People belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities in the State list but not in the Central list will be eligible to apply for posts and services of the Government of India under the EWS quota criteria, provided they fulfill all other requirements, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said in a list of FAQs it has put out on how to recruit under the 10% reservation provided for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

The DoPT issued the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the answers to them after it received several references from Ministries, departments and individuals with regards to the criteria to qualify for the EWS quota.

This comes at a time a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the EWS quota and has repeatedly voiced concerns of it eating into the 50% for the unreserved category — meant to be open for all irrespective of their caste, creed, or religion.

In addition to this, the DoPT, in the list of FAQs issued to States and Union Territories last week, added that members of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes will not be eligible to apply for Central government positions irrespective of where they reside (even if the State of residence does not recognise their community as an SC or ST).

Unfilled vacancies

Further, the DoPT has clarified that unfilled EWS vacancies for a particular recruitment year cannot be carried over to the next and that successive attempts to fill these vacancies with EWS candidates should be made. “Thereafter, the unfilled vacancies may be filled up, treating them as unreserved provided it does not result in excess representation in the general category beyond the number added on account of non-availability of EWS candidate,” the DoPT said.

The DoPT said the SC/ST members will not be eligible to apply for Central government posts

Our code of editorial values