J.S. Verma, J.

1. Petitioner No. 2 is the daughter of petitioner No 1. She had applied for admission to one of the Medical Colleges in the State for the M.B.B.S course commencing this year. She has not been admitted. Hence this petition claiming a writ of mandamus against the respondents to admit her to one of the Medical Colleges in the State.

2. The total number of seats to be filled this year in several Medical Colleges in the State was fixed, admittedly, at 720 in all. Later on, 10 more seats were increased in the Rewa Medical College for the sons and daughters of freedom fighters, but we are not concerned with these additional seats in the present case. A fixed percentage of seats out of the total number was reserved for some specified categories so that the final division of these 720 seats was made as follows:--

(1) General category ... ... 441 seats.

(2) Scheduled Castes ... ... 108 "

(3) Scheduled Tribes ... ... 108 "

(4) Freedom Fighters ... ... 21 "

(5) Military Personnel ... ... 21 "

(6) Govt. of India nominees ... ... 21 "

Total 720 seats.

3. The petitioner No. 2 falls in the general category and could claim to be admitted only thereunder and the benefit of any of the other special categories enumerated above from items Nos. 2 to 6 was not available to her. It is also accepted that in the general category no candidate has been admitted to any of the Medical Colleges who may have obtained less marks than petitioner No. 2. The minimum aggregate marks up to which admissions have been made in the general category is 275 out of 500, whereas the petitioner No. 2 has obtained 272 marks out of 500. These are the marks obtained by the candidates for admission, in Pre-Medical test held for weeding out the surplus candidates in excess of the seats available. It is also an admitted position that none of the candidates admitted under any of the aforesaid categories is disqualified for admission, according to the qualifications prescribed by the University for admission to the M.B.B.S. course.

4. With regard to the Pre-Medical examination held this year, the State Government had prescribed a method to regulate the admissions and to ascertain the number of seats available for allocation to the aforesaid different categories of applicants. This was done by the 'Madhya Pradesh Pre-Medical Examination Rules, 1972' which is Annexure 'A' to the petitioner. After the Pre-Medical Examination was held, a clause in the rules initially declared, was modified with a view to provide admission to many more candidates from amongst some of the reserved categories, but strictly within the number of seats reserved for them according to the policy declared initially. The relevant provisions of the rules and the amendment shall be stated hereafter.

5. The grievance made on behalf of the petitioners is that but for the subsequent amendment in the rules, many more seats out of those which were allocated to the reserved categories would fall vacant, with the result that the total number of seats available under the general category would be further increased, and thereby many more candidates including the petitioner No. 2 would get admission. As such, the petitioners contend that the action of the Government in so amending the rule after the Pre-Medical Examination was held, was illegal and unjustified and it has the effect of depriving petitioner No. 2 of her right to be admitted in one of the Medical Colleges.

6. It is common ground that the aforesaid Madhya Pradesh Pre-Medical Examination Rules, 1972 are mere executive instructions and the appellation (Rules) used for describing them is a misnomer, since they have neither any statutory origin nor any statutory force. This being so, the so-called Rules are a mere declaration of the State Government's policy for guidance of its officers on the basis of which the admissions were to be made this year to the several Medical Colleges in the State. As a matter of fact, except for calling upon the candidat