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2019 Supreme(Del) 1843
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Hima Kohli, Asha Menon, JJ.
Prateek Singhal - Appellant
Vs.
National Testing Agency, Department Of High Education Ministry Of Human Resource Development And Another - Respondents
Letters Patent Appeal No. 575 of 2019
Decided On : 31-10-2019
R.M. Sinha, Adv., P.M. Sinha, Adv., Amit Bansal, Adv., Seema Dolo, Adv., Vipasha Mishra, Adv., Arjun Mitra, Adv., Jaskaran Kaur, Adv.
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the eligibility criteria for admission to the B.Arch course, as prescribed in the Information Bulletins and Business Rules, were upheld by the court.
Headnote:
Eligibility Criteria - Admission to B.Arch Course - Architects Act, 1972, Information Bulletins, Business Rules - The court upheld the eligibility criteria for admission to the B.Arch course as prescribed in the Information Bulletins and Business Rules, dismissing the appeal.
Fact of the Case:
The appellant sought to challenge the cancellation of his seat in a B.Arch course due to not meeting the eligibility criteria for the JEE (Main) 2019 Paper-2. The appellant argued that the respondent No.2/JoSAA did not have the authority to fix the eligibility criteria and that the criteria had been changed midstream. The appellant also contended that there was no delay in approaching the Court for relief.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the appellant did not satisfy the minimum eligibility criteria for the JEE (Main) 2019 Paper-2 as prescribed in the Information Bulletins. The court also held that the Business Rules issued by the respondent No.2/JoSAA were not applied retrospectively and that the eligibility criteria remained consistent and unchanged. The court dismissed the appeal as meritless.
Issues: The issues involved the authority to fix eligibility criteria, the alleged change in criteria midstream, and the timeliness of the appellant's approach to the Court.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that the JAB and the respondent No.2/JoSAA had the authority to set eligibility criteria, and that the criteria had not been changed midstream. The court also found that there was no delay in the appellant's approach to the Court.
Final Decision: The court upheld the impugned judgment, dismissing the appeal as meritless.
JUDGMENT :
Hima Kohli, J.
The appellant, petitioner in W.P. (C) 8307/2019, is aggrieved by the judgment dated 19.8.2019 passed by the learned Single Judge, declining to quash the Business Rules issued by the respondent No.2/Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), released on 16.6.2019 or set aside the cancellation letter dated 1.7.2019, issued by the respondent No.2/JoSAA informing him that the seat allotted to him in Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal for pursuing a five year degree course, Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch.), stands cancelled.
2. A brief glance at the relevant facts and sequence of events is considered necessary before dealing with the submissions made on behalf of the appellant to assail the impugned judgment.
3. The appellant had obtained 322 marks out of 500 marks in 10+2 CBSE Examination conducted for the Academic Year 2017-2018, which comes to 64.4% marks in the 12th Standard examination. Intending to pursue the five year Bachelor of Architecture Degree Course, the appellant submitted an application for participating in the JEE (Main), 2019 on 27.9.2018. The result of the First Attempt of the JEE (Main), 2019 was announced on 31.1.2019. The appellant also appeared in the Second Attempt of the JEE (Main), 2019, the result whereof was declared on 14.5.2019. On 23.6.2019, the appellant submitted his choices of the college for allocation of a seat in the subject course.
4. As per the Schedule of Events, seven rounds of seat allocation were to be conducted by the respondent No.2/JoSAA, commencing on 27.6.2019 and ending on 18.7.2019. Between 19.7.2019 to 23.7.2019, the process of document verification and acceptance of seats/admission in the participating institutes was to be concluded for the NIT+ system. By 5.8.2019, the two mop-up rounds for seat allocation also stood concluded.
5. On 27.6.2019, a round of counseling took place and the appellant was allotted Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal and was given five days for purposes of documentation verification at the Regional Centre. When the appellant went to the Regional Centre at NIT, Delhi on 1.7.2019 and presented his documents for verification, he was informed that he was ineligible for the subject course and his seat had been cancelled by the respondent No.2/JoSAA with the remark that "he did not come within top 20 percentile or fulfill minimum aggregate percentage of marked in class XII in JEE (Main), Paper-II."
6. Aggrieved by the cancellation order, the appellant filed the captioned petition that has been dismissed by the impugned judgment dated 19.8.2019 on the ground that the appellant did not satisfy the minimum eligibility criteria for the JEE (Main), 2019 Paper-2 for allocation of a seat in the five year Bachelor of Architecture Degree Course, as prescribed in the Information Bulletin issued by the respondent No.1/National Testing Agency (NTA) that has conducted examinations for admission to NITs, IIITs, CFTIs, SFIs, State Engineering Colleges for participating States and other participating institutions in the JEE (Main) 2019. It was held that the eligibility criteria for admission to the aforesaid institutions for the JEE (Main) 2019, First Attempt and Second Attempt remained consistent and a candidate was required to secure at least 75% marks in the 12th standard examination or be in the top 20 percentile in the 12th class examination conducted by the respective Boards and the appellant having failed to secure the said marks, the cancellation order did not deserve interference. The learned Single Judge also disagreed with the submission made on behalf of the appellant that the public notice dated 25.9.2018, issued by the respondent No.1/NTA, declaring the revised eligibility criteria for admission to the first year of the five year B. Arch. Course, made applicable for the Academic Year 2019-20, had super
