JUDGMENT

PATHAK, CJI.:— On 31 July, 1987, we allowed this writ petition and directed the respondents to admit the petitioner, Meenakshi Malik, in one of the three Delhi Medical Colleges in the first year course prescribed for the M.B.B.S. Degree. We said that the reasons would be pronounced later. We proceed to do so now.

2. The petitioner was born in Delhi on 8 September, 1967. Her father, Shri O.P. Malik, was employed in the National Council of Educational, Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi and her mother, Smt. Kanta Devi Malik was employed in the Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mehrauli, New Delhi. The petitioner attended the Junior Public School, Shakti Nagar, up to Class II and the Cambridge School, Siriniwaspuri, New Delhi, up to Class IX until 19 January, 1982. The petitioners father was placed on deputation in January. 1982 with the Government of Nigeria to serve in its Ministry of Education through the Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Government of India. New Delhi. The petitioner, who was a minor at the time, had to accompany her parents along with her minor brother. In Nigeria, the petitioner contin