The main legal point established in the judgment is that the merit of the petitioner should have been the sole criteria for filling up the 4 reverted seats from the All India Quota, as per the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997, and the principle of 'social justice' was invoked to ensure justice to the weaker or poorer section of the society.

JUDGMENT

G.S.Kulkarni, J. - This is a case of a highly meritorious student, an aspirant for admission to the first year undergraduate medical course (MBBS) who has secured 559 marks in NEET-2020 examination. If her claim for admission in the circumstances before us is not considered, merit would be the causality.

2. Petitioner is a domicile of Dadra & Nagar Haveli. She appeared for the NEET-2020 examination securing a high score of 559 marks with a NEET percentile at 96.8418581.

3. In 2019, respondent no. 4- NAMO Medical Education and Research Institute, Silvassa, the only medical college for the Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Silvassa & Daman & Diu, came to be established to cater to the needs of medical education in such Union Territories. The present academic year 2020-2021 is the second academic year since the establishment of such medical college.

4. To undertake admissions to the MBBS course on the basis of NEET score, an admission brochure was issued by the Union Territories Administration of Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu titled as "Admission Prospectus 2020- 2021".

5. Although the petitioner is a domicile of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and who has been issued a certificate to that effect, the petitioner, despite her high score in the NEET examination, was to lose admission on account of Clause 4 of the admission brochure, which provided for different priorities. The "First Priority", inter alia, being for candidates whose parents/guardians are domicile of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as the case may be who have studied continuously from Class 8th to 12th in any of the recognised schools of that Union Territory. The "Second Priority" being, if the seats remain vacant after allotment of seats to candidates belonging to the first priority, they will be offered to candidates whose parents/guardians are domicile of Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, who have studied in any recognised educational institution anywhere in the country or abroad. The "Third Priority" being, if the seats remain vacant after allotment of seats to candidates falling in first and second priority, to be offered to candidates whose parents/guardian are employees (regular/on deputation/on transfer) of the Union Territory Administration/Central Government/UT PSUs/Central PSUs and are posted in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as the case may be continuously for the past 5 years as on last date of application for admission and the applicants have studied in a recognised school of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, as the case may be continuously from 10th to 12th standard. The "Fourth Priority" being, if the seats remain vacant after allotment of seats to candidates falling in the First, Second and Third priority, they will be offered to other eligible candidates from any State/UT.

6. It is the petitioner's case that she satisfied the eligibility criteria except Clause 4(a) providing for the First Priority stipulating that the student should have studied from Standard VIII to Standard XII in a school within the Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli inasmuch as although the petitioner studied from Standard I to X in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Silvassa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, she undertook XI and XII standard course from Gurukul International School, Banthod in the State of Rajasthan, which was affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education. The petitioner contends that although she had a very high score in NEET by securing 559 marks, she would not fall in the First Priority and was to be considered in the Second Priority provided seats are available after the First Priority candidates are exhausted as per Clause 4(a).

7. The petitioner participated in the admission process undertaken by respondent no.4. On 12th October 2020, provisional merit list for Dadra