Judgment :

A.K. Patnaik, J.

In this writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution, the petitioner has made a grievance that his fundamental right to equality in the matter of admission in post-graduate medical course in the State quota in the medical colleges in the State of Uttarakhand guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution has been violated by respondent nos. 1 and 2.

Facts:

2. The facts very briefly are that the petitioner is a permanent resident of Delhi and had qualified in the All India Pre-Medical Test conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (for short 'the CBSE') for the 15% seats reserved for the All India quota. He was admitted in the MBBS course in the year 2007 in the Medical College at Haldwani in the State of Uttarakhand. He completed his MBBS course in March, 2012 and thereafter completed one year of internship in March, 2013. The petitioner then appeared in the NEET Examination, 2013 conducted by the Medical Council of India (for short 'the MCI') for admission to postgraduate medical courses in India and qualified in the examination and claims to have secured 60th rank of the State of Uttarakhand.

3. On 07.06.2013, the Department of Medical Education, Government of Uttarakhand, Dehradun, published an Information Bulletin for counseling for Uttarakhand State quota seats in MD/MS/MDS/PG Diploma courses in the medical/dental colleges of Uttarakhand State through NEET PG-2013/ MDS-2013 for the academic session 2013-14. In this Information Bulletin, the Eligibility Criteria for admission to the post-graduate medical/dental courses was as follows:

"Eligibility Criteria:

The Counselling for admission shall be open to such candidates who:

1. Have passed the MBBS/BDS Examination from Uttarakhand viz. Government Medical College, Haldwani, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical Sciences, Patel Nagar Dehradun, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Jolly Grant, Dehradun, Uttaranchal Dental College, Maajri Grant, Dehradun & Seema Dental College, Rishikesh and were admitted through competitive examination (Uttarakhand State PMT) and not through NRI/Management/Institute Quota.

2. Are Domicile of Uttarakhand and have passed MBBS/BDS examination from Medical/Dental Colleges of other States, recognized by MCI/DCI, and were admitted through 15% All India Quota (allotted by Government of India).

3. Are Domicile of Uttarakhand and have passed MBBS/BDS examination from Medial/Dental Colleges of other States in India, recognized by MCI/DCI, and were admitted through Pre Medical Entrance Test conducted by the concerned State Government.

4. Have completed Compulsory Rotatory Internship Training on or before 31.03.2013.

5. The eligible candidates who get selected through NEET-PG 2013/NEET (MDS)-2013 will be given admission on available seats in post graduate courses by Counselling Board according to their rank in State merit list, made available by NBE/MCI/DCI/AIIMS and the seat available at that time.

6. Having name in the State merit list of eligible candidates provided by MCI/DCI/NBE/AIIMS will not be the right of the candidate for getting PG seats unless he/she fulfills all the eligibility criteria regarding Domicile, reservation policy, provisions of bond etc. mentioned in the information bulletin and /or amendments made thereafter till the time of conselling."

4. It will be clear from clause 1 of the Eligibility Criteria that a candidate must have passed MBBS examination from Uttarakhand in any of the colleges named therein and must have been admitted through the competitive examination, namely, Uttarakhand State PMT. The petitioner was not admitted through the Uttarakhand PMT to the Medical College, Haldwani and therefore did not fulfill the eligibility criteria for admission to the medical post-graduate course under clause 1 of the Eligibility Criteria. It will be further clear from clause 2 of the Eligibility Criteria that candidates who are domicile of Uttarakhand and passed MBBS examination from