JUDGMENT :

L. NAGESWARA RAO, J.

Leave granted.

1. The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Government of India by letters dated 12th February, 2018 and 5th June, 2018 instructed all the State Governments and the concerned universities to admit students in AYUSH undergraduate courses on the basis of the in NEET merit list for the academic year 2018-19. By a letter dated 11th June, 2018, the Government of India informed the State Governments that a candidate seeking admission to AYUSH under-graduate courses shall obtain minimum of marks at 50th percentile in NEET. Pursuant thereto, Respondent No.3 by a notice dated 15th June, 2018 informed all the candidates about the changed eligibility criteria, namely, the introduction of the requirement of 50th percentile for open category and 40th percentile for reserved category. The Appellant-Association filed a Writ Petition in the High Court of Judicature at Bombay challenging the legality of the aforementioned letter dated 11th June, 2018 of Respondent No.1 and notice dated 15th June, 2018 of Respondent No.3 which was dismissed. Aggrieved thereby, these Appeals have been filed.

2. According to the Central Council of Homoeopathy (Degree Course) B.H.M.S. Regulations, 1983, a candidate should have passed the 10+2 or other equivalent examination after a period of 12 years’ study with the last two years of study comprising of Physics, Chemistry and Biology for admission to 1st year BHMS course. On 5th February, 2018, an information brochure was issued by Respondent No.3 for NEET UG – 2018 for admission to Health Science courses i.e. MBBS/BDS/BAMS/BHMS/BUMS/BPTh/BOTh/BASLP/BP&O/B.Sc. (Nursing) in all Medical Educational Institutions in a State/Union territory, including Medical Educational Institutions established by the Central Government, State Government, University, Deemed University, Trust, Society/Minority Institutions/Corporations/Corporations or a company. The schedule for the entrance examination for admissions for the year 2018-19 was given in the information brochure. The entrance test was scheduled to be conducted on 6th May, 2018 and the results were to be declared by the first week of June, 2018. After the declaration of results of NEET UG – 2018, a notice was issued on 6th June, 2018 by Respondent No.3 for online registration. In the meanwhile, the eligibility criteria for admission to BHMS Degree Course was altered by Respondent No.1 by a letter dated 11th June, 2018 pursuant to which a notice was issued by Respondent No.3. As per the changed criteria in the letter dated 11th June, 2018, a candidate from the open category will be eligible for admission only if he/she secured not less than 50th percentile of the marks in NEET-2018. A candidate belonging to the reserved category should secure not less than 40th percentile of the marks which shall be determined on the basis of highest marks secured in the all India common merit list in NEET-2018.

3. The Appellant-Association made a representation to the Respondent No.1 on 28th August, 2018 in which they stated that a large number of seats will remain unfilled if the altered standards are strictly followed. As there was no response from the Respondent, the Appellant-Association filed a Writ Petition in the High Court of Judicature at Bombay challenging the letter dated 11th June, 2018 of Respondent No.1 and the consequential notice of Respondent No.3. The main contention of the Appellant in the Writ Petition was that the altered standards for admission introduced by letter dated 11th June, 2018 should not be applied to the ongoing admission process and that the admissions for the year 2018-19 should be conducted in accordance with the information brochure which was issued on 5th February, 2018. The Appellant-Association was not aggrieved by the introduction of the NEET examination for admission into the BHMS course. The only submission made on behalf of the Appellant was that the percentile m