JUDGMENT

A. K. Patnaik, J.-Leave granted.

2. These are appeals against the common judgment and order dated 23.12.2011 of the Division Bench of the High Court of Delhi in Writ Petition (C) No.7103 of 2011 and Writ Petition (C) No.4299 of 2011 declining to grant relief to the appellants in the matter of admission to the MBBS course in the medical colleges under Delhi University for the academic session 20112012.

3. The facts very briefly are that the Delhi University issued a Bulletin of Information for admissions to the Under-Graduate Degree Courses for the academic session 2011-2012 (for short ‘the Bulletin’). Para 2 of the Bulletin dealt with admissions to MBBS course. Para 2.1.1 of the Bulletin stated that the university conducts the MBBS course in three Medical Colleges, namely, Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) and University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS). Para 2.1.1 of the Bulletin further stated that only female candidates were to be admitted in LHMC. Para 2.1.2 of the Bulletin stated that candidates for 15% seats were to be selected directly by the Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS) based on the result of the examination conducted by the CBSE, New Delhi, as per the directions of this Court. Para 2.1.3 of the Bulletin deals with admissions to seats by Nominees of Government of India (NGOI) and it states that candidates who wish to be considered for admission to this category of seats need not appear in the Delhi University Medical and Dental Entrance Test (DUMET) and they will correspond directly with the authorities listed in Appendix-II to the Bulletin. Para 2.1.6 of the Bulletin furnishes the statement of total number of seats in Under- Graduate Courses for the session 2011-2012. The statement is extracted hereunder:

Name of the Medical College Seats to be filled in on the basis of DUMET Seats to be filled in by DGHS Seats to be filled in by the Government of India Nominees Total Seats

MBBS Course

General SC ST OBC 15% Quota NGOI

LHMC 55 19 10 14 22 30 150

MAMC 113 25 12 14 30 6 200

UCMS 66 19 9 34 22 Nil 150

Total 234 63 31 62 74 36 500

The aforesaid statement shows that 30 out of 150 seats in LHMC and 6 out of 200 seats in MAMC in the MBBS course are reserved for NGOI. The aforesaid statement further shows that out of a total of 500 MBBS seats in the three government colleges of the university, 36 seats are reserved for NGOI. The Bulletin further provides that besides the 15% seats directly filled up by the DGHS based on the examination conducted by the CBSE, New Delhi, and the NGOI, all other candidates have to appear in the DUMET and will be admitted to the MBBS course on the basis of their merit in the category in which they have applied.

4. The appellants applied as female general category candidates and also took and cleared the DUMET. However, on account of their lower rank in the merit list of candidates who cleared the DUMET, the appellants could not be admitted to any of the seats in the three government medical colleges under the university. Aggrieved, the appellants filed Writ Petition (C) No.7103 of 2011 and Writ Petition (C) No.4299 of 2011 before the High Court of Delhi praying for a direction to quash the Bulletin insofar as it provides for filling up of 30 seats out of the 150 seats in the MBBS course in LHMC by NGOI and praying for a direction to the authorities to fill up these 30 MBBS seats earmarked for the NGOI for the academic session 2011-2012 from the general category candidates and the appellants be considered for such admission to the 30 seats as general category candidates. Before the High Court, the appellants contended that the reservation of as many as 30 seats in the MBBS course in LHMC was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution and that the procedure adopted by the Government of India in nominating the candidates for the 30 seats without holding a common entrance test for