JUDGMENT

SASHIKANTA MISHRA,J. - The petitioner being a student of Class-V of Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Center, Laxmidharpur, Dhenkanal had applied for admission to Class-VI in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in the academic session 2021-22. She appeared in the entrance examination conducted pursuant to advertisement issued by Government of India. The petitioner belongs to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) Khaira community. She qualified for admission in the said entrance examination and was declared to have passed in "Rural SC Category". When it was found that she actually belongs to ST category, she was refused admission in JNV. It is stated that the category of the petitioner was wrongly mentioned as 'SC' instead of 'ST' at the time of filling up of the online application. It is further stated that such error was caused because of mistake committed by the Data Entry Operator (DEO). Since the Rules governing the admission to JNVs permits interchangeability of SC and ST candidates, the petitioner contends that she should not have been denied admission. During pendency of the writ application, the academic session 2021-22 having expired, the petitioner amended the writ petition with p