In Brief
The State of Tamil Nadu and the Teachers' Recruitment Board recruited teachers for Chemistry posts under a notification allowing MBC and DNC reserved vacancies. High-scoring candidates from reserved categories were appointed against backlog MBC/DNC vacancies instead of general vacancies, displacing other candidates. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court's ruling that reserved-category candidates who qualify on pure merit must be adjusted against general vacancies in order of merit, not against reserved category vacancies. Section 27(f) of the Tamil Nadu Act concerns only how reservation operates after the general merit list is filled. The word 'first' in the statute means backlog vacancies are filled after the general list, not that they override merit-based placement. The appeals were dismissed.
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