JUDGMENT

A.M. Ahmadi, CJI.-SLP (Civil) Nos. 8175-78 of 1995

Special leave granted.

2. This civil appeal arises out of a common judgment of the High Court of Patna whereby 4 writ petitions before the High Court being civil writ jurisdiction cases 911, 933, 1081 and 1140 of 1994 were disposed of. The question involved in the writ petitions was as to the mode of allotment of seats in the various branches of the post-graduate medical courses in the State of Bihar. The authorities had made provisions for reservation of seats for the underprivileged sections, like the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Extremely Backward Class, the Backward Class and Ladies. The procedure adopted for allotment of seats in the post-graduate medical courses led to some dissatisfaction giving rise to the litigation.

3. The Controller of Examinations, Health Services, Government of Bihar, Patna issued the prospectus for the competitive test for admission to post-graduate courses in Patna Medical College, Patna, Darbhanga Medical College, Laheria Sarai, Rajendra Medical College, Ranchi and Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Jamshedpur for the year 1992. On the question of reservation the prospectus had the following clause :

"The reservation of seats for various categories shall be as per the decision of the Government. There will be no economic criteria for the reservation.

Scheduled Caste 14%

Scheduled Tribe 10%

Extremely Backward Class 14%

Backward Class 9%

Ladies 3%"

About selection and allotment of seats, the relevant clause in Part VI of the prospectus was as under :

"VI. Selection :

(ii) Merit list will be prepared on the basis of the marks obtained in the P.G.M.A.T. and the choice of subject/course and institution will be given on merit-cum-choice basis as indicated by the candidate in the Application form provided the candidate fulfil other criteria laid down in the prospectus."

The qualifying marks for eligibility were 50% in the Post Graduate Medical Admission Test, but for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, the qualifying marks were only 40%.

4. The Government of Bihar, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms published a resolution dated 7.2.1992 being No. 11/K1-1022/91-K20 (hereinafter referred to as resolution No. 20 ) on the subject titled "provision for reservation for nominating (admission) of Scheduled Castes/ Tribes/ Backward Class/ Extremely Backward Class/Female into the Professional Training Institutes". Paragraph 6 of the resolution No. 20 being material for the facts of the case may be reproduced below :

"As there is provision in direct appointment to the effect that the candidates belonging to reserved classes, who are selected on the basis of merit, would not be adjusted against reserved seats, similarly maintaining the same arrangement here also the candidates selected on the basis of merit for admission into professional training institutes would not be adjusted against the reserved quota for the candidates of reserved classes."

5. It appears that because of para 6 of the resolution quoted above, which was applied in allotment of seats in various branches of the Post Graduate Medical courses in the State of Bihar, some candidates in the reserved categories found themselves in a disadvantageous position. The candidates in various reserved classes who could qualify on merit were treated at par with the general candidates and were allotted branches which would fall to them on merit-cum-choice basis which led to allotment of such courses, which because of their low position in general merit, were not of their choice while the course/college of choice was available to a candidate qualifying for the reserved seat although they were lower in merit position. This led to the filing of various writ petitions before the High Court of Patna which were decided by the impugned judgment

6. To remove the anomalies, the High Court devised a method of allotment of seats by which the reserved seats are