( 1 ) HEARD learned advocates S/shri P. S. Patel, C. L. Soni, Kamlesh Sheth and N. V. Gandhi for the petitioners. Learned advocate Shri Dipak Dave for learned advocate Shri A. D. Oza has appeared on caveat on behalf of the Gujarat Secondary Education Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board) whereas learned Assistant Government Pleaders Shri K. P. Raval, Ms. Shraddha Trivedi and Shri N. D. Gohil have appeared for the government authorities.

( 2 ) AS subject-matter in all these petitions is same, at the request of the learned advocates, all these petitions have been heard together. The facts giving rise to the present petitions are as under :

( 3 ) THE question involved in these petitions is with regard to change of stream after completion of Std. XI. As per the scheme of education framed by the Board, for the purpose of giving Higher Secondary Certificate, examinations are conducted in four different streams, which are as under : general Stream science Stream vocational Stream post Basic Stream

( 4 ) AFTER studying upto Std. X, a student has to select one of the aforementioned streams and a student has to study for 2 years in one stream so as to be eligible to take HSC Examination conducted by the Board. The petitioners in this group of petitions are either students who changed their stream after completion of their studies in Std. XI or are institutions or schools where the students had studied in one stream in Std. XI and thereafter they changed the stream in Std. XII.

( 5 ) AS applications for appearing at HSC Examination by the students, who had changed their stream after Std. XI, have been rejected by the Board, these petitions have been filed with a prayer that the action whereby the application forms of the concerned students have been rejected should be quashed and set aside and the concerned students should be permitted to appear at the examination which is to commence on 18. 3. 2002.

( 6 ) IT has been submitted by learned advocates S/shri P. S. Patel and C. L. Soni appearing for the students that the petitioners had undergone requisite training and they are eligible to appear in a particular stream as they had studied in the said stream in Std. XII. According to them, studies prosecuted by the said students in Std. XI in a different stream is not much relevant because the concerned students have to pass their Std. XII examination in a particular stream. To give an illustration, it may be stated that some of the students had studied in post basic stream in Std. XI and thereafter in Std. XII they changed their stream to general stream. Thus, for one year they studied in post basic stream and thereafter they studied in general stream. Thus, it is an undisputed fact that all the students have not studied in a one particular stream for both the years during which they studied in Std. XI and XII or in other words, the students had studied in different streams during the said two years.

( 7 ) IT has been submitted by the learned advocates that if the petitioners are not permitted to appear at the examination, they would be losing one important year of their life and they will have to appear again in a different stream. It has been submitted that the said students were permitted to change the stream by the institutions where they were prosecuting their studies. It has been submitted that the students were not aware of the fact that it was not open to them to change the stream after passing Std. XI examination. It has been prayed by way of ingterim relief that subject to result of the petitions, the students should be permitted to appear at the examination during pendency of these petitions.

( 8 ) IT has also been submitted that some of the students got intimation with regard to rejection of their application forms late and therefore they have approached this court in the month of March. Had they been informed earlier, the petitioners could have approached this court at an earlier point of time.

( 9 ) LEARNED