ORDER

In the Union Territory of Chandigarh, 5% of the seats are reserved in favour of sons/daughters/spouses of Military / Para-Military personnel Orders in this behalf are issued by the Administration in its memo dated 19th May, 1982 which were later modified in memo dated 6-9-1990. In accordance with the said orders, Punjab Engineering College (a College run by the Chandigarh Administration and affiliated to Punjab University) reserved 15 seats in favour of sons/daughters spouses of Military/ParaMilitary personnel. The College published a prospectus for the session 1991-92. It contains inter alia the rule governing the admission of students to the said college. So far as the reservation in favour of children and spouses of Military/ Para-Military Personnel is concerned, the rule (printed at pages 23 and 24 of the Prospectus) reads as follows:

Sons/ Daughters/ Spouses of Military/ Para Military Personnel etc.:

The Admission of the candidates against the reserved seats under this category will be made on the basis of merit list prepared according to the priorities given below in the descending order:-

1. Sons/Daughters/Spouses of defence personnel who are awardees of gallantry decorations of Paramvir/ Mahavir/ Vir Chakra in person or posthumously.

Or

Sons/daughters/spouses of defence personnel and para-military personnel like CRPF, BSF etc. who are killed or are totally incapacited in action while in service and were wholly dependent on them.

2. Sons/daughters/spouses of defence personnel and paramilitary personnel like CRPF/ BSF etc. who die while in service and were wholly dependent on them;

3. Sons/daughters/spouses of defence personnel and paramilitary personnel like CRPF/BSF incapacitated while in service and were wholly dependent on them;

4. Sons/daughters/spouses of ex-servicemen (military and paramilitary personnel like CRPF/BSF who are wholly dependent on them;

5. Sons/daughters/spouses of serving defence personnel and paramilitary personnel like CRPF/BSF who are wholly dependent on them.

The candidates claiming admissions under the category 1 above are required to submit the photo-copy of citation for the gallantry award, failing which the application will not be considered in this category.

The candidates claiming admission under category 1 are required to submit a certificate from the respective Headquarters regarding death/total incapacitation in action while in service.

The candidates claiming admission under category 2 and 3 are required to submit a certificate from the respective Headquarters regarding death/ total incapacitation while in service.

The candidates claiming admission under category 4 are required to submit discharge certificate from service and certificate of dependence from the district Magistrate of the district concerned.

The candidates claiming admission under category 5 are required to submit the certificate of dependence from the unit in which parent/spouse is serving.

The candidates who apply for admission against this category will also be considered for admission against the seats allocated for Chandigarh/ General Pool to which they may belong as per their merit."

2. A perusal of the rule shows that the five categories are mentioned in the order of priority in the descending order. There is no allocation of seats as between these five categories. It means that in the first instance, all the qualified and eligible candidates falling in category 1 will be given admission and if any seats are left unfilled, qualified candidates falling in category 2 will be admitted. If there are any seats still left unfilled, qualified candidates falling in category 3 will be given admission and so on. In a given year, it may well happen that all the available seats reserved for children/spouses of defence personnel are taken away by the candidates in the first or first and second categories. As a matter of fact, for the year 1990-91, only 6 candidates belonging to sub-category 4 out of 90 candidates could be admitted and