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IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
(AURANGABAD BENCH)
N.P. Chapalgaonker B.H. Marlapalle, JJ.
Dipali d/o Uttamrao Dakre ..... Petitioner.
Versus
The State of Maharashtra others..... Respondents.
Writ Petition No. 2600 of 1998, decided on 12-8-1998.
Advocates appeared :
S.P. Deshmukh, for the petitioner.
A.M. Kanade, G.P., for the respondents.
Though we have held that Rule 4.5 prescribing that the SSC or equivalent examination must have been passed from the State of Maharashtra is valid so far as we read the two provisos to the said Rule, we do not find them to be happily worded if the intention of the Government is to exempt the children of the persons who are in active defence service, then the concession which is given to the Government servants, both Central and State, will have to be similarly given to the persons in the Defence service, The persons serving in the Defence service are nevertheless the employees of the Government of India. If such a servant, who is in active Defence serivce, is domicile of the State of Maharashtra and was posted outside Maharashtra and, therefore his children had to take education outside Maharashtra, those children cannot be excluded from consideration to admission to the Medical and other professional colleges in the State of Maharashtra. Court therefore direct the State Government to consider re-writing of the provisos next year so that the defence personnel are treated on par with other Government servants.
Medical College
Rules for Admissions to Medical and Dental Colleges in Maharashtra for the year 1998-99, Rules 4.4, 4.5 and 5.1. to 5.5-Reservation of seats to children of defence personnel under Defence-1 and 2 category-Requirement in Rules 4.4. and 4.5. of passing of Higher Secondary Certificate Examination from an institution in Stale of Maharashtra will have to be excluded while considering case of children of parents domiciled in State of Maharashtra against seats reserved for Defence-1 and Defence 2 category.-Annexure "C" to the Rules framed by the State Government, for admission to Medical and Denial Colleges in Maharashtra for the year 1998-99 deals with the reservations for the children of Defence personnel. The sons and daughters of Ex-Defence service personnel are categorised of Defence-1, the sons and daughters of active Defence service personnel are categorised as Dcfence-2 and the sons and daughters of active Defence service personnel transferred as Defence-3, in Annexure "C" to the Admission Rules. The prime requirement for being considered for admission to children of defence personnel, is that the parent must be a domicile of State of Maharashtra. The petitioners father was in active Defence service. Since he was a domicile of Maharashtra and was in active Defence service, the petitioner filed an application with the respondent No.3 Dean of Government Medical College, Nanded for a seat, reserved for the children of Defence personnel. Her eligibility was doubted by the authorities on the ground that she did not fulfil the requirements of Rules 4.4. and 4.5 and her application was not accepted on the ground that she was not eligible.
Held, that b), reading the provisions of Annexure "C" with the provisions of Rule 5 of the adn1ission rules it is clear that the intention of the State has been to treat the defence personnel as a category by itself and if the cases for admission against the seat reserved for Defence-1 and Defence-2, the condition of fulfilment of Rules 4.4. and 4.5 is held to be mandatory, the said reservation n1ay be rendered to be illusory. Therefore, while considering the cases of children of defence personnel for reserved seats under Defence-l and Defence-2, it is necessary that the requirement of Rules 4.4 and 4.5 is reasonably read and made applicable. It is well known that the defence personnel are posted anywhere in India and even sometimes in foreign countries. Undoubtedly, their children are expected to accompany them and pursue their studies wherever the parent or parents are posted. But if such parent or parents are domiciles of Maharashtra and are in defence service, the cases of their children for admission to MBBS Courses in the State of Maharashtra against the seats reserved for Defence-1 and Defence- 2 will have to be considered in terms of the rules as set out as well as Rules 5.1 to 5.5 and while so considering the requirements of Rules 4.4 and 4.5 will have to be excluded. The petitioner was, therefore, eligible to apply for a seat reserved for children of defence personnel (Defence-2) and entitled to be considered for admission to MBBS Course in this category, subject whoever to inter se merit. (1989) 3 SCC 115, Relied on,
Rules for Admission to Medical or Dental Colleges in Maharashtra for the year 1998-99, Rules 4.4 and 4.5-Said Rules not discriminatory - Rules are framed in valid exercise of the executive powers of the State of Maharashtra. 1983 Mh LJ 833 and 1997 (3) Mh LJ 672-Relied on.
Rules for Admissions 10 Medical and Dental Colleges in Maharashtra
Rule 5-Admissions-Procedure-Competent authority must accept all applications received and receipt thereof should be given.-All applications presented for professional courses should be accepted by the competent authority and a receipt thereof should be given for future admissions and the authorities should display a list of invalid and/or incomplete application within a period of one week from the last date fixed for accepting the applications. In addition, some reasonable time of couple of days should also be given to remove the deficiencies in such applications so that the candidates, who are otherwise meritorious and who genuinely satisfy the requirements as set out in the Rules, do not remain unconsidered for admissions due to their ignorance or ignorance on the part of their parents.
2.Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent, taken up for hearing forthwith.
3.This is a petition by a girl born in Maharashtra and whose parents are domiciled in Maharashtra. Petitioner's father was serving in the Armed Forces and, therefore, the petitioner had to take and continue her education wherever her father was posted. The petitioner has passed both her S.S.C. and H.S.C. examinations from outside the State of Maharashtra. The Government of Maharashtra framed rules and called for applications for admissions to the Medical and Dental Colleges in Maharashtra for the year 1998-99 and the last date for applying was 20th June 1998. On this day, petitioner's father was in active Defence service. Since he is a domicile of Maharashtra and was in active Defence service, petitioner filed an application with the respondent No. 3 for a seat reserved for the children of Defence personnel. The normal procedure to be adopted by such authorities should have been that the application should have been accepted and after scrutiny, if it is found that the petitioner was not eligible, the application should have been rejected. Here in this case what happened was that the petitioner tried to file an application with respondent No. 3 but on preliminary scrutiny of the form, which was done by the officers of the respondent No. 3, they came to the conclusion that the petitioner was not eligible for admission and hence, the application itself was not accepted.
4.This fact has been accepted by the respondents in their affidavit and it is admitted before us that petitioner's application was received in time but was not accepted. We wish to observe that to avoid further complications as to whether such an application was actually submitted and whether it was accompanying the necessary basic documents, without which the application would not have been valid, it is always better that all applications received are accepted, as acceptance does not create any right in favour of the petitioner. We, therefore, direct that all such applications presented for such professional courses, should be accepted by the competent authority and a receipt thereof should be given for future admissions and the authorities should display a list of invalid and/or incomplete applications within a period of one week from the last date fixed for accepting the applications. In addition, some reasonable time of couple of days should also be given to remove the deficiencies in such applications so that the candidates, who are otherwise meritorious and who genuinely satisfy the requirements as set out in the Rules, do not remain unconsidered for admissions due to their ignorance or ignorance on the part of their parents.
5.Petitioner's application is to be considered under Annexure 'C' to the Rules framed by the State Government which deals with the reservations for the children of defence personnel. The sons and daughters of Ex-Defence service personnel are categorised as Defence-1; the sons and daughters of active Defence service personnel are categorised as Defence 2 and the sons and daughters of active Defence service personnel transferred to Maharashtra State from the State outside Maharashtra are categorised as Defence-3, in Annexure "C" to the Admission Rules. Petitioner's application is to be considered under Defence 2 category. Rule 3 of the Rules in this Annexure "C" reads as under :
"To be eligible for a seat in defence category, the parent of such an applicant-who was/is a member of the Armed Forces - must be a domicile of Maharashtra State. The applicant will be required to produce a Domicile Certificate in respect of his/her parent, issued by District/Metropolitan Magistrate."
There is no dispute that on the date of the application, the father of the applicant was an active member of the Armed Forces and was a domicile of the State of Maharashtra. Her eligibility was doubted by the authorities on the ground that she
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