New Delhi: A petition filed by twelve candidates to stay Union Public Service Commission's (UPSC) decision to revise the results of Civil Services Examination by deleting the names of 96 OBC candidates from the general category and adding their names to the reserved category list, was refused by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The twelve petitioners argued that by issuing appointment letters to successful candidates, the UPSC had denied them the opportunity of making it to the merit list.

Taking action on the plea filed by the OBC candidates, a bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishanan and Justices P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal fixed July 18th as the date of hearing.

The High Court had on March 20 quashed Rule 16 (2) of the Civil Services Exam by holding it 'null and void' saying that it was unfavorable to the intention of the socially affirmative action under the law.

The appeal was made by senior advocate K.T.S. Tulsi who urged the apex court to cancel the second provisional list published by UPSC on June 26 in which 96 reserved category students selected under the general category were deleted and were kept under the reserved category list.

Tulsi argued that according to two earlier bench verdicts, once a candidate from the reserved category was selected on merit basis in the open category, he could not be counted in the reserved category.