PATNA, Sept. 5 -- In a setback to the Bihar State University Service Commission(BSUSC), the Supreme Court on September 2 rejected its Special Leave Petition (SLP) against a Patna High Court order, stating, "We find no good ground and reason to interfere with the judgment/order passed by the High Court." The case pertains to the posting of a law professor, Rama Shankar, belonging to the Extremely Backward Caste (EBC), who sought posting in Patna University as a preference and despite his merit, was sent to TM Bhagalpur University. On April 4, 2025, the HC division bench, setting aside a single-bench order of the HC, ruled that the commission should comply with its order and issue a fresh order of posting in favour of the writ petitioner/appellant strictly in accordance with his indicated preference. The SC has upheld this HC order. "It is for the petitioner (Commission) to give full effect to the order by coming up with a viable solution. Leaving it open to the petitioner to do so, the special leave petition is dismissed," said the apex court bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva. The litigation in the cases lasted for about four years. On September 21, 2020, the BSUSC advertised for 15 law professor posts: 5 posts were reserved for Extremely Backward Class (EBC), 5 posts for Unreserved category, 2 posts for Scheduled Caste (SC), and 1 post each for Backward Class (BC), Economically Weaker Section (EWS), and Scheduled Caste (SC). In the final list, the writ petitioner, an EBC candidate, appeared under the unreserved category, despite his top ranking in the EBC category. Consequently, he was allotted TM Bhagalpur University based on his merit. Having indicated Patna University as his first preference, the appellant challenged his posting at TM Bhagalpur University in the HC on the contention that he was denied his choice despite availability of two EBC category vacancies in Patna University. However, a single-judge bench of the HC dismissed his petition. The petitioner appealed the decision and the division bench headed by Chief Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Harish Kumar on March 25, 2026 overturned the single-bench verdict. The court emphasised that the emphasis of statutes must be in consonance with Article 14, adding, if a specific mechanism results in a more meritorious candidate receiving a less desirable posting than a lower -merit peer, it fails the test of constitutional validity. Setting aside the single judge order of April 4, 2025, the HC division bench had directed the Commission to comply with its order and issue a fresh order of posting in favour of the writ petitioner/appellant strictly in accordance with his indicated preference. The apex court has now upheld that order and it might benefit other candidates who are similarly denied their choice despite meeting the criteria....