Give 12 cop posts to women: Telangana High Court

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has directed the Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board (TSLPRB) to set aside 12 posts of woman police constables (Armed Reserve) for the petitioners, who have challenged the decision of the Board to reserve only 10 per cent of posts for women in Armed Reserve category rather than the mandatory 33 per cent quota as per statutory rules.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ragha-vendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy, passed orders to this effect while hearing a writ petition filed by L. Krishnaveni and 11 others challenging the Rule issued in the concerned GO restricting reservation for women to 10 per cent as illegal and seeking redrawing of final merit list for the post of police constables (Armed Reserve).

The petitioners also challenged the exercise of normalisation of marks of candidates in physical efficiency test, undertaken by the Board, which has resulted in severe loss to women candidates, whose marks have been drastically reduced as a result of this exercise. They contended that this exercise is discriminatory and makes a mockery of Article 14 of the Constitution.

Mr M.V. Rama Rao, Counsel representing TSLPRB, contended that the petitioners do not have the right to question the Rule after having participated in the recruitment process and failing to get selected.  However, the Bench disagreed with this contention and observed that there is no bar on the petitioners to challenge the Rule even after participating in the recruitment structure and that it can be done at any stage. It directed the Board to keep aside 12 posts for the petitioners.