The Patna High Court has dismissed an appeal filed by a woman seeking Scheduled Caste (SC) reservation benefits in Bihar for recruitment to the post of Assistant Prosecution Officer, holding that marriage and subsequent residence in another State do not automatically entitle a candidate to claim reservation benefits there.
A Division Bench of Justice Prabhat Kumar Singh and Justice Rana Vikram Singh ruled that reservation eligibility is linked to the candidate's State of origin and the applicable recruitment conditions.
Background
The appellant, Vidyawati Kiran, had applied for the Assistant Prosecution Officer recruitment conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) under Advertisement No. 01/2020. She participated in the preliminary examination, mains examination and interview as a Scheduled Caste candidate.
However, when BPSC declared the final result on December 2, 2023, she was among eight unsuccessful candidates because her caste and domicile certificates were not issued on the basis of her father's permanent residence.
Her father belonged to Uttar Pradesh, while she had married in Bihar in 1996 and had been residing there since then. After her representation and review application were rejected, she approached the High Court. The Single Judge dismissed her writ petition on August 6, 2024, prompting the present appeal.
The appellant argued that she had acquired her husband's domicile after marriage and had been permanently residing in Bihar for more than 28 years. However, the Bench rejected this argument, explaining that civil domicile acquired through marriage does not automatically transfer constitutional reservation benefits from one State to another.
The Court observed:
"In the present case, petitioner is not entitled for benefit as the BPSC has framed the Rule in the light of the State policy and prior to advertisement, this matter has been decided at the Government level, which has also got reflected in Advertisement Columns 6 (ii) and (iii)(A) as well as in clause 5(ii) of the interview letter and, hence, no case of the petitioner is made out."
The Bench also emphasised that recruitment conditions announced before the selection process are binding on candidates participating in the examination.
Finding no illegality or perversity in the Single Judge's decision, the Bench held that the appellant had failed to establish that BPSC acted contrary to the applicable recruitment conditions or constitutional provisions.
Accordingly, the Patna High Court dismissed the Letters Patent Appeal.
Case Details:
Case Title: Vidyawati Kiran v. State of Bihar & Others
Case Number: Letters Patent Appeal No. 947 of 2024
Judges: Justice Prabhat Kumar Singh and Justice Rana Vikram Singh
Decision Date: 4 November 2026
