In Brief
The Supreme Court dealt with multiple appeals and petitions arising from a 2011 recruitment process for 4010 Sub-Inspector and Platoon Commander posts in Uttar Pradesh. The selection faced multiple challenges regarding use of whitener/blade by candidates, rounding of percentages, and whether vacant posts should be carried forward. While upholding the High Court's decision that vacancies cannot ordinarily be carried forward merely to accommodate candidates below the cut-off mark, the Court ordered that 833 vacant posts (607 from dropouts/failed medical checks and 226 reserved for freedom fighters' dependents) be filled in the present selection as a one-time exception, given the multiple judicial interventions and 8000+ vacancies in succeeding selections. Candidates using whitener who scored above the cut-off were to be accommodated without displacing already-selected candidates.
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