What is VERTICAL & HORIZONTAL RESERVATION

There are two types of reservations, which may be referred to as ‘vertical reservations’ and ‘horizontal reservations’. The reservations in favour of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) may be called vertical reservations whereas reservations in favour of physically handicapped, ex-servicemen can be referred to as horizontal reservations.

Horizontal reservations cut across the vertical reservations – what is called interlocking reservations; means they do not have separate reservation as SCs, STs and OBCs have; rather they have their share of reservation within this quota. Suppose an ex-serviceman is SC, he will be adjusted within the reservation available for SC category only, not any other except under some other circumstances.