What is the role of the opinion of the State in determining eligibility for reservation?
The opinion of the State plays a significant role in determining eligibility for reservation. According to the context provided, the State can make provisions for the reservation of appointments or posts in favor of any backward class of citizens which it believes are not adequately represented in the services under the State. This also applies to reservations made for promotion and consequential seniority in favor of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes who, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State. The State's opinion is also crucial when considering any unfilled vacancies reserved for being filled up in a specific year, as these can be treated as a separate class of vacancies to be filled up in succeeding years and their reservation ceiling does not consider the overall number of vacancies of that year.