JUDGMENT :

Petitioners are young children who have approached this Court through their parents in order to allow them to join the prestigious Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya (hereinafter referred to as ‘JNV’) at Jamui after they have been selected.

2. It is their contention that respondent No.6 has wrongly cancelled their admission/candidature vide letter dated 22.11.2022 solely on the ground that the petitioners parents are not residents of the district Jamui where the JNV has been located.

Individual letters of even date 22.11.2022 have been issued to all the three petitioners which have been jointly assailed before this Court.

3. From the perusal of the impugned letters, it appears that the parents have been informed of three reasons which have been made basis for rejecting their candidature. Firstly, the selection in the test will not vest any right to secure admission, and secondly, therefore, even though they may have been selected in the test their candidature stands rejected solely on the ground that their parents are not residents of the district where the JNV is existing and thirdly, the judgment passed by the Bombay High Court dated 13th October 2022, as per para 9 (ii) he must be a resident of the same district where JNV is situated and seeking admission.

4. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners relies a judgment rendered in the case of Patil Vijayakumar Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax reported in ILR (Karnataka) page 1520 to submit that the Division Bench judgment of the Bombay High Court does not have a binding effect on the other high Courts and it only has a persuasive value. He also relies on judgment of the Bombay High Court rendered in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax vs. Thana Electricity Supply Ltd. reported in 1993 SCC online Bom. 591 where similar view has been taken.

5. Before delving on the merits of the case, it is noticed that a Division Bench of the High Court of Bombay while deciding a bunch of writ petitions filed by various students who were aspirants to join JNV on 13th of October, 2022 held as under :

“The aforesaid discussion leads us to conclude that the candidate seeking admission to the JNV must satisfy the twin test (I) he must be studying in class V in Government/Government aided or other recommended schools or B Certificate Competency Course of NIOS in the same District where the JNV is situated and (ii) he must be resident of the same district where the JNV is situated and is seeking admission.”

6. Learned counsel for the petitioners has tried to persuade this Court to take a different view. He submits that as per the prospectus heading ‘Selection and Admission’ para 3.6, it is provided “the candidates and their parents/guardians may note that the children selected on the basis of the Test will be admitted only in the JNV located in the district from where they are studying in class V and appearing for the JNVST. Under no circumstances, the selected candidate will be given admission to any other JNV. No request for shifting of students on account of medium of instruction in the JNV concerned, shifting of parents/guardians to other districts/States, etc. will be entertained”.

7. He, therefore, submits that the candidates who have studied in a school of a particular district different from their parental home or maternal home would not be entitled to apply in another district for admission to JNV. A certificate is required to be given by the school that they were studying in class Vth in the school located in the said district from where they are applying.

8. He further submits that two categories of students may apply for admission to the JNV; one are those students who are regularly pursuing their studies for the entire year, and the entire academic session, in a Government or Government aided or other recognized schools and second are those category of students who have done a ‘B’ certificate competency course of National Institute of Open School (hereinafter referred to as ‘NIOS’) in th