J.B. PARDIWALA, J.

This writ-application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is at the instance of a student who has been denied admission in the professional courses such as M.B.B.S./B.D.S. on the ground of not having studied in a C.B.S.E. school located within the State of Gujarat, and has prayed for the following reliefs :

“(A) To hold and declare that Rule 5(A)(ii) of the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Courses (Regulation of Admission and Payment of Fees) (Amendment) Rules, 2013 as illegal and ultra vires the Constitution of India in so far as it makes a student of Gujarati origin and domicile of Gujarat ineligible from getting admission in the professional courses such as M.B.B.S./B.D.S. on the ground of not having studied in CBSE Schools located in the State of Gujarat and be pleased to quash and set aside the same;

(B) to direct the Respondents to consider the case of Petitioner for admission to the professional courses including admission into M.B.B.S. course, on the basis of her merit, and in accordance with law;

(C) Pending admission, hearing and final disposal of this petition, Your Lordships may be pleased to direct the Respondents to consider the case of Petitioner and include her in the merit list on the basis of her own merit and grant admission to her in the professional courses including the course of M.B.B.S. in accordance with law;

(D) Pass such other and further reliefs as may be deemed just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case may kindly be granted.”

2. The facts giving rise to the present application may be summed up thus :

The petitioner belongs to a Scheduled Caste category and was born in Ahmedabad (Gujarat). The father of the petitioner also belongs to the State of Gujarat and is working with Indian Oil Corporation. The father of the petitioner at present has been posted at Gauhati, Assam.

The father of the petitioner was earlier working in the State of Gujarat and thereafter was transferred to Mumbai. From Mumbai, he was transferred to Gauhati.

The petitioner studied in a C.B.S.E. affiliated Delhi Public School in Gauhati from 25th June 2010 to 28th May 2012 and successfully cleared her Standard-12 (AISSCE) in the year 2011-12. The petitioner also appeared and successfully cleared GUJCET as well as NEET. Having cleared GUJCET, the petitioner applied for admission to the M.B.B.S. course. However, the said form was not processed on the ground that the petitioner had not cleared the Standard-12 examination from a school situated in the State of Gujarat and the petitioner was not exempted from the said requirement provided under the Gujarat Rules.

3. According to the petitioner, though Rules 5(1) and (2) of the Gujarat Rules are aimed at facilitating the children of officers of the State of Gujarat and All India Services who are posted out of Gujarat for the reasons beyond their control, to secure admission in the institutions situated in the State of Gujarat, the same are required to be read, construed and interpreted to include even the officers/personnels of the Government Public Sector Undertakings like Indian Oil Corporation and other Corporations so as to uphold its validity. According to the petitioner, the discriminatory treatment to the officers of the Public Sector Undertakings of the Government is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and the exclusion of the officers of the Indian Oil Corporation has no rationale. In other words, according to the petitioner, there exists no nexus with the object sought to be achieved by excluding the children of the employees of a Public Sector Undertakings like Indian Oil Corporation.

4. Mr. Anand Yagnik, the learned counsel appearing with Mr. Sahil M. Shah for the petitioner, vehemently attacked the Gujarat Rules on the ground that the provisions contained in the said Rules excluding the original residents of Gujarat from the process of selection for admission in the medical colleges in Guj