The main legal point established in the judgment is the application of the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgments to determine the correct categorization of candidates in UG Counselling for MBBS / BDS seats.

ORDER :

(Prayer in 18903 of 2020: This Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, Direction or Order in the nature of a Writ, calling for the records pertaining to Under Graduate Medical/Dental Seats Allotment - 2020 - Round - 2 List dated 28.11.2020 uploaded by the 2nd Respondent in its official website and quash the same only to the limited extent of misplacement of Fifth Respondent under P-SC category instead of P-UR; non inclusion of the Petitioner’s candidature (All India Rank No.164528) therein and inclusion of the candidature of the 6th Respondent (All India Rank No. 34442) and 7th Respondent (All India Rank No.40982), therein and to direct the Official Respondents herein to include the Petitioner in the Under Graduate Medical/Dental Seats Allotment - 2020 - Round-2 List under JEI-P-SC and to consequently forthwith grant admission to the Petitioner to a seat in UG Medical Course in JIPMER, Puducherry.

18908 OF 2020: This Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the 2nd and 3rd Respondents herein to include the petitioner in Under Graduate Medical/Dental Seats Allotment 2020 Round 2 List dated 28.11.2020 under JEI-P-SC and to consequently forthwith grant admission to the petitioner to a seat in UG Medical Course in JIPMER Pudecherry.)

1. The Petitioners, who are aspirants for MBBS medical course in the third respondent College-JIPMER, have filed these Writ Petitions challenging the final selection order of the second round of UG Counselling for MBBS / BDS seats in reference U-11011/04/2020/21 –MEC dated 16/11/2020 issued by the 2nd respondent only to the limited extent of misplacement of 5th Respondent under Puducherry SC Category instead of Puducherry Un-Reserved Category.

2. The case of the Petitioners is that they are residents of Puducherry and also belong to Scheduled Caste Community. The petitioner in W.P.No.18903 of 2020, Ms.Lavanya, secured 418 marks and the other petitioner in W.P.18909/2020, Ms.Reshma secured 414 marks, in the NEET Examination. The residents of Puducherry are eligible for internal reservation and on this quota, 7 seats are allotted for Puducherry SC (Internal SC) category. In this category, one Dhakshancoumar / 5th Respondent herein got admission. The grievance of the petitioners is that though the 5th Respondent is eligible under the Puducherry Internal Un-Reserved Category, he was accommodated under the Puducherry SC (Internal SC) category and thereby, the scope for other eligible SC candidates is denied.

3. Mr.Ravi, the learned Counsel for the petitioners, in support of his case, has relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in “Ritesh R. Sah v. Dr. Y.L. Yamul and others, reported in (1996) 3 SCC 253, and submits that in case if the candidates applied under the SC Category are having sufficient marks for being allotted at the Un-Reserved Category, they ought to have been treated as Un-Reserved Category, instead of SC category. The relevant portion of the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is extracted as follows:

“But at the same time the provisions should be so made that it will not work out to the disadvantage of such candidate and he may not be placed at a more disadvantageous position than the other less meritorious reserved category candidates. The aforesaid objective can be achieved if after finding out the candidates from amongst the reserved category who would otherwise come in the open merit list and then asking their option for admission into the different colleges which have been kept reserved for reserved category and thereafter the cases of less meritorious reserved category candidates should be considered and they will be allotted seats in whichever colleges the seats should be available. In other words, while a reserved category candidate entitled to admission on the basis of his merit will have the opt