Equality of Opportunity in Public Employment

Article 16 guarantees every citizen equality of opportunity in matters relating to employment or appointment to an office under the State. This Fundamental Right ensures fair access to public employment but does not create a right to be appointed. It also permits constitutionally specified reservations and other limited distinctions to secure substantive equality.

Equality and non-discrimination

The guarantee covers entry into public service and matters relating to employment under Union and state authorities falling within the constitutional meaning of the State.

• Under Article 16(1), all citizens must receive equality of opportunity in public employment.
• Under Article 16(2), no citizen may be made ineligible or discriminated against solely on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth or residence.

Reservation for Scheduled Castes

Reservation for Scheduled Castes is principally supported by the enabling provisions of Article 16, while Article 335 supplies an additional constitutional consideration concerning their claims in public services.

• Article 16(4) enables reservation in appointments or posts for a backward class that, in the State's opinion, is not adequately represented in its services; this is the basis for Scheduled Caste reservation in initial appointments.
• Article 16(4A) expressly enables reservation in promotion, with consequential seniority, for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that are not adequately represented in state services.
• Article 16(4B) permits unfilled reserved vacancies to be carried forward as a separate class and excluded from the current year's vacancies when applying the 50 percent ceiling.
• Article 335 requires the claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to be considered consistently with administrative efficiency; its proviso permits qualifying-mark or evaluation-standard relaxations for their reservation in promotion.

Other constitutionally permitted distinctions

Article 16 also accommodates specified residence, institutional and economic criteria without displacing its general equality guarantee.

• Under Article 16(3), only Parliament may prescribe a residence requirement for specified public employment within a state or Union territory.
• Article 16(5) permits a law requiring holders of offices connected with a religious or denominational institution to profess that religion or belong to that denomination.
• Article 16(6) enables reservation for economically weaker sections, other than classes covered by Article 16(4), up to 10 percent in addition to existing reservation.