In Brief
The Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir's order that seniority of directly recruited judges (Batch 2003) must be determined by merit rankings set by the Public Service Commission, not by roster points. The Court held that inter-se merit lists of selected candidates are mandatory in direct recruitment and that roster points apply only to ensuring reserved category representation in recruitment—they do not govern seniority. The Court reaffirmed that Article 16(4) reservation principles operate at the appointment stage, not the seniority stage, following established precedent in Bimlesh Tanwar.
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