JAWAHAR LAL GUPTA, J.

1. Is a student who has qualified the Combined Engineering Entrance Test liable to be excluded from consideration for admission to a college only because the application form sent by him is received late even though he had despatched it well in advance before the last date? This is the short question that arises for consideration in this petition.

2. The petitioner lays claim to a good academic record. He passed the Matriculation Examination in the year 1992 with 83.2% marks. He passed the 11th class examination with 80% marks and the 12th class examination with 84.2% marks. His score in the subjects of Mathematics and Science was 96% and 87% respectively the petitioner appeared in the Entrance Test held in May, 1994. He was successful. He was placed at No. 1206 in order of merit out of a total of about 15,000 candidates.

3. An advertisement was published in the Times of India inviting applications for admission in various Engineering Colleges from the candidates who had qualified the Entrance Test. It was inter alia stipulated that the applications must reach the Principal, Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra by 5 P.M. on 8/07/1994. The petition