The Supreme Court has upheld the Tamil Nadu government's plea to allow a special 10 per cent quota in the recruitments for police and similar forces to the children of serving, retired or deceased personnel.

A bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S H Kapadia set aside a Madras high court judgment.

The Madras high court had quashed a 2001 policy decision, which the government said was to "boost morale and strengthen loyalty of the force".

The issue started when an unsuccessful candidate approached the Central Administrative Tribunal after he was not selected in the police force.

The candidate hadn't challenged the scheme, but merely filed an appeal regarding his case.

But the tribunal, dismissing his plea, said the scheme itself was unconstitutional.

The candidate then approached the high court.

The high court dismissed the appeal but approved the tribunal's view that the scheme was invalid.

Allowing the government's appeal, the Supreme Court said the tribunal expressed no view regarding the validity of the policy decision. It said the high court had wrongly inferred the tribunal's views.

The bench did not express any opinion on the validity of the scheme.