Judgment

PALEKAR, J. :- These petitions under Art. 32 of the Constitution are filed by Rita Kumar and Suresh Elwadhi complaining about discrimination under Article 14 of the Constitution. Both of them are repatriates from Burma, the former having come to India in January, 1965 and the latter in October, 1964. Both are citizens of India and are qualified for entry to the M.B.B.S. course. It appears that the Government of India introduced a scheme under which a certain number of seats in Government Medical Colleges are reserved for pre-medical and M.B.B.S. courses for repatriates from Burma, Ceylon, Mozembique and new migrants from Bangla Desh. Pursuant to the scheme an advertisement was published on 3-6-1972 inviting applications from qualified repatriates from the above areas in prescribed forms. Repatriates claiming reservations of seats were required to produce a certificate. A note appended to the certificate is as follows :

"Note : For the purpose of issuing the above certificate a bona fide repatriate is defined below :

"Repatriate" means a person of Indian origin who was ordinarily resident in a foreign country, but who has come to India with the intention of settling down in In