KOLKATA: Even if a candidate under the reserved category scored higher than the cut-off marks and was upgraded to general category, s/he would continue to enjoy benefits of the former category, Calcutta high court held Tuesday.The directive came after an SSC candidate, who made it to the first list of the 2025 SLST exam, moved high court to restore her SC status even if she was upgraded to general category.SSC senior counsel Kalyan Bandyopadhyay sought HC’s permission to upgrade the candidate to the general category contending that another SC candidate with lower marks would miss the opportunity of being considered if the petitioner wanted to restore her status. Bandyopadhyay argued that the idea of reservation was meant for the welfare of a community and not for an individual.Justice Amrita Sinha, however, noted that the petitioner had marked herself as a reserved category candidate while filling the form and had submitted Rs 200, a fee meant for that category. The judge referred to her Nov 27 order, in which the court had held that once a candidate’s category was final, authorities could not “change it suo motu”.