( 1 ) IN this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the applicant purshottam-das seeks a writ of mandamus directing the opponents to permit him to appear for the examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education for the Higher Secondary School Certificate (hereinafter referred to as Pre-University examination) this year.

( 2 ) THIS petition was filed a few days before the commencement of the examination. We were anxious that the petition should be heard and disposed of before the examination began. But as the respondents were not prepared to address arguments within the short time at their disposal, they rightly agreed to allow the applicant to appear for the examination on the condition that the result of his performance in the examination would not be disclosed in the event of this petition failing. The examination has now been held, and the question for determination is whether the opponents' refusal to permit the applicant to appear for the examination was justified.

( 3 ) THE petitioner's case is that he passed the Matriculation Examination conducted by the Board in 1958. In 1959 he appeared for the Pre-University Examination of the Board