In Brief
Radhika T., an SC candidate, was ranked second in a two-year valid rank list for Associate Professor (SC-reserved) at Cochin University. The first-ranked appointee, Dr. Anitha Kumar (also SC), resigned after completing probation. Radhika sought appointment claiming entitlement as the next-ranked SC candidate. The University refused, applying statutory communal rotation to assign the vacancy to the Latin Catholic/Anglo-Indian category. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that a rank list is merely a pool of eligible candidates—not a source of guaranteed appointments. While Section 31(10) gives rank lists two-year validity, Section 31(11) mandates that communal rotation apply to every vacancy during that period. Since the SC reservation was satisfied in substance by Dr. Anitha's valid appointment, her resignation created a fresh vacancy subject to rotation rules, not the rank list.
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