Orissa High Court rules against reservation in GRS appointment

The Orissa High Court rendered a verdict disallowing reservation system for the appointment of Gram Rozgar Sevak (GRS), which are contractual in nature. Single judge bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra, while delivering the judgment, clarified that the position of GRS does not fall under the civil service categories of the state nor is it governed by the Odisha Civil Service (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules of 1962.

Justice Mishra highlighted that GRS appointments, linked to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), are contractual and those selected receive fixed remuneration without any claims to permanent state employment.

“In view of the clear finding of this court that GRS is a contractual appointment, the principles of reservation would have not application,” Justice Mishra ruled.

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The ruling comes after an advertisement by the District Collector of Subarnapur in June 2018 was challenged in court. The advertisement called for applications for 19 GRS positions across various gram panchayats, allocating five positions to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and 14 to the Scheduled Tribes (ST). 

A contender from the general category argued that such reservations were improperly applied, and this led to the High Court imposing interim restraints on the recruitment process after the publication of the final merit list in December 2018.

Justice Mishra rejected state government’s interpretations of the district cadre status and deemed them both "fallacious" and "absurd."

“The district cadre status is a namesake cadre without the trappings of civil post or service under the state,” Justice Mishra observed and added, “Reference to the 2008 Rules is also fallacious as appointment to the said service from amongst the GRSs would not change their status as contractual appointees.”