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2019 Supreme(Guj) 1075
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
ANANT S. DAVE, BIREN VAISHNAV, JJ.
Hardik Dhirubhai Patel – Petitioner
Versus
State of Gujarat – Respondent
Special Civil Application No. 11834 of 2019
Decided On : 25-07-2019
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioners: Mr. Mitul Shelat, Ms. Avni H. Pandya.
For the Respondents: Ms. Manisha Lavkumar Shah, Mr. K.M. Antani.
The main legal point established in the judgment is the invalidity of Rule 4(7)(i) of the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Courses (Regulation of Admission in Undergraduate Courses) Rules, 2017, due to its arbitrary and discriminatory nature.
Headnote:
ultra-vires - Admission Eligibility - Rule 4(7)(i) of the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Courses (Regulation of Admission in Undergraduate Courses) Rules, 2017 - The court discussed the provisions of Rule 4(7)(i) and its impact on the eligibility of a student who studied in a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya scheme. The court found the rule to be arbitrary and discriminatory, and quashed it, directing the authorities to include the petitioner's name in the provisional merit list for medical courses.
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner, a tribal born and domiciled in Gujarat, was denied admission to medical courses in Gujarat because he did not study in a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya scheme school in the state up to standard VIII, despite fulfilling other eligibility criteria.
Finding of the Court:
The court found Rule 4(7)(i) to be arbitrary and discriminatory, as it deprived the petitioner of admission solely based on not studying in a Navodaya school up to standard VIII in Gujarat, despite fulfilling other eligibility criteria. The court quashed the rule and directed the authorities to include the petitioner's name in the provisional merit list for medical courses.
Issues: The main issue was the validity of Rule 4(7)(i) and its impact on the eligibility of the petitioner for admission to medical courses.
Ratio Decidendi: The court held that Rule 4(7)(i) was arbitrary, unreasonable, and discriminatory, and therefore ultra-vires to Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The rule was found to unjustly deprive the petitioner of admission based on a single instance of not studying in a Navodaya Vidyalaya in Gujarat up to standard VIII.
Final Decision: The court quashed Rule 4(7)(i) and directed the authorities to include the petitioner's name in the provisional merit list for medical courses, clarifying that the ruling should not be extended to other candidates who have not studied in Navodaya Vidyalaya.
ORDER :
1. The present Special Civil Application is filed by the petitioner to declare Rule 4(7)(i) of the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Courses (Regulation of Admission in Undergraduate Courses) Rules, 2017 (for short ‘Rules 2017’) insofar as it requires a student to have studied under Jawahar Navodaya Scheme upto standard VIII in any of the schools located in the State of Gujarat as ultra-vires. A writ of mandamus under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is prayed for seeking a direction to the respondent authorities to include the name of the petitioner in the provisional merit list for Medical, Dental, Homeopathy, Ayurvedic and Naturopathy courses for the year 2019, NEET UG-2019 based ST merit list.
2. Here is a case where a tribal whose son - the petitioner who is born in Gujarat, is a domicile of Gujarat, has studied upto standard VIII in a Dadra and Nagar Haveli school affiliated to the Gujarat Board is denied admission to the professional course of medical field on the ground that though the petitioner has passed his standard XII from the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Silvassa (Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and has therefore passed his qualifying examination from a Navodaya Vidhyalaya located outside Gujarat State, in accordance with Rule 4(7)(iii), since he did not study in a Jawahar Navodaya Vidhyalaya scheme upto standard VIII in any of the schools located in the State of Gujarat as required under Rule 4(7)(i) of the Professional Medical Rules, he is declared to be ineligible for admission to medical courses.
3. The petition arises in the following background.
3.1 The petitioner is a student, who was born on 14.10.1998 in Karvad, Gujarat. From Class Nursery to Class VIII, the petitioner studied for the period from 2003 to 2014 at Little Star Academy in Dadra, a school affiliated to the Gujarat Secondary Education Board. From Class IX to Class XII, in the years 2014 to 2018, the petitioner undertook his education from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Silvassa.
3.2 The petitioner is a domicile of Gujarat too and also a Scheduled Tribe candidate so certified by the State of Gujarat. For the academic year 2018-19, the petitioner applied for admission to medical course but since he could not obtain admission in a desired college on the basis of his NEET score, he reappeared for NEET on 05.05.2019. The petitioner obtained an All-India rank of 362794. The petitioner applied for medical admission, however, when the list was declared on 02.07.2019, in the NEET undergraduate-2019 based ST merit list, he found that his name was not included. His name was found to be included in the list of non-eligible persons published by the Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Courses. The reason provided for non inclusion of his name in the list of eligible candidates was that the petitioner had passed 12th Standard in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and that the school from which he passed the 12th standard was not a Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Board affiliated school and also was located outside Gujarat.
3.3 On being aggrieved by this, on 03.07.2019, the petitioner approached the respondent committee. The petitioner was asked to submit a form and was assured that his grievance will be resolved. Since the first round of admission to the MBBS and BDS course had already begun and a copy of the advertisement of the first round of online choice filing and allotment began, the petitioner is constrained to approach this Court as his non inclusion in the eligibility list makes him ineligible to pursue medical course within the State of Gujarat.
4. Mr. Mitul Shelat, learned advocate for the petitioner has submitted that the action of the respondents for declaring the petitioner ineligible for admission to medical courses on the ground that the petitioner passed his standard XII from a Navodaya school located outside Gujarat, on the ground that he had not studied upto standard VIII in accordance with cla
