( 1 ) TWO set of petitioners have approached this Court in these petitions raising several contentions, some of which overlap. The common challenge involved in all these petitions pertain to legality of the admission process undertaken by the State Government for various professional courses available in the State after passing Higher Secondary School Board Examinations in Science Stream. Essentially, the challenge is to the modalities adopted by the State Government in preparing merit lists for such professional courses.

( 2 ) THE petitioners in Special Civil Application No. 10720 of 2006 and connected matters are students who are pursuing studies in Gujarat in the schools affiliated to Central Board and have either appeared this year or will appear in the next couple of years in standard 12 examination conducted by the Central Board called CBSE. These petitions had come up for admission hearing on 12th May 2006 during summer vacation. After issuance of notice and filing of replies, they were ripe for hearing before this Court on 15th June 2006. Considering the importance and urgency of the issues involved in the matters, with the consent of the learned advocates appearing for the parties, these petitions were heard for final disposal at the admission stage itself.

( 3 ) SPECIAL Civil Application NO. 11346 of 2006 has been filed by the father of student who has appeared in standard 12 (HSC) science stream examination held by the Gujarat Board in March 2006. At the request of the Court, learned AGP Ms. Sangita Vishen had accepted an advance copy of the petition for the State Government and also within a short time available filed affidavit to which the petitioner has also filed rejoinder. Considering the importance of the issues and the commonality of some of the aspects of the matter with the group petitions filed by the students from Central Board schools, this petition was also simultaneously heard for final disposal. All appearing parties have advanced detailed arguments before this Court and raised several contentions.

( 4 ) IN order to appreciate the controversy arising, necessary facts need to be noted at this stage. Special Civil Application No. 10720 of 2006 and connected matters have been filed, as noted above, by the students pursuing their studies in schools affiliated with the Central Board. These petitioners may be conveniently referred to as the Central Board students. Petitioners Nos. 1 to 7 of Special Civil Application No. 10720 of 2006 are students who have appeared in their class 12 examination conducted by the Board called CBSE. They are eligible to apply for medical or para-medical courses or engineering or related subjects - as per the choice of their subjects - in various professional courses run by several institutes in the State. Petitioners Nos. 8 to 10 are students who have appeared in standard XI in their respective schools which are affiliated to Central Board. They are though not directly concerned with the exercise undertaken by the State Government for granting admissions to various professional courses in the current year, they have however, joined themselves in these petitions to safeguard their future interest.

( 5 ) BROADLY stated, the case of these petitioners is that in the State of Gujarat, there are different sources through which the students who pass their qualifying examination seek admission in various professional courses. It is, therefore, the case of these petitioners that the State Government must compulsorily conduct a common entrance test to prepare a common merit list from amongst all the students seeking such admissions. It is their case that they should be allowed to compete for all available seats in various medical, para-medical, engineering and other professional courses available after passing class 12 Science examinations. They also contend that the State Government should follow the regulations framed by the governing bodies such as Medical Council of India (MCI for sh

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