S. Ravindra Bhat, J. (Open Court)

1. This writ petition calls for resolution of a challenging paradox. On the one hand is the claim of the petitioner, a candidate declared to be merited./tanked 1600 in the common entrance examination held for admission to the first. year MBBS course in the 15% All India Quota, conducted by the respondent Central Board of Secondary Education (hereafter "CBSE"). The Medical Council of India (hereafter "the MCI") and the Union of India on the other, deny his candidature on the ground that he does not fulfil the eligibility criteria prescribed, of having undergone the requisite period of study in Biology. Placed in the backdrop of the acute pressure on the limited number of vacancies available in the All India Quota (2400), the dispute raises difficult and disturbing issues involving interpretation of what constitutes "merit".

2. The facts leading to the present dispute are few, and largely undisputed. The petitioner finished his Senior Secondary Examination, in 2002, having succesfully appeared in the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education, after studying his 10+2 in the Seth Sr Dugar Senior Secondary School, Sardarshahar, with Physics, Chemistry, Math

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