Timely issuance of scholarship policies for BPL students is crucial; delays do not justify modification of admission rules.

JUDGMENT

Muralee Krishna, J.

The petitioner in W.P.(C) No.41830 of 2025 filed this writ appeal under Section 5 (i) of the Kerala High Court Act , 1958, challenging the judgment dated 11.11.2025, passed by the learned Single Judge in that writ petition.

2. Going by the averments in the writ petition, the appellant-petitioner joined the Government Dental College, Kannur, through the Medical admission process conducted in 2025. The appellant belongs to a Below Poverty Line category family. She secured the 7049^th position in the Kerala State Medical Rank List. By judgment in S.L.P.(C) No. 9885 of 2020, the Honourable Supreme Court upheld the judgment of this Court in W.P.(C).No. 7771 of 2018 with modifications. As per the judgment in S.L.P.(C) No.9885 of 2020, the scholarship scheme declared for BPL category students is to be continued. Even though the judgment was pronounced in May 2025, the Government did not issue any order regarding the admission of students belonging to the BPL Category. The process of Admission started only after the pronouncement of the judgment in SLP (C) No. 9885 of 2020. Due to the delay in issuing a Government Order stipulating the conditions for availing scholarship for BPL Category students, the BPL category students, including the appellant, could not exercise the option for other courses like MBBS, as full fees are to be paid with the self-financing college management, where admission is secured at the time of admission itself. Unless the scholarship benefit is extended, it is not possible for the students belonging to the BPL category to raise the entire fee for MBBS for a year, which would come about Rs.10.5 to 11 lakhs. The Government published the terms and conditions for availing the BPL category scholarship only on 16.09.2025, by the time the chances for exercising the option were over, and the appellant had to join the course available according to her ranking only. Had the Government issued Ext P2 order in time, in tune with the Judgment of the Apex Court, the appellant and other students belonging to the BPL category could have exercised their option for Courses like MBBS. The beneficiary of the delay in issuing Government order is the self-financing colleges, as they can accommodate students from the general rank list and collect full fees and other charges. With these pleadings, the appellant filed W.P.(C) No.41830 of 2025, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India , seeking the following reliefs:

“(i) a writ of mandamus or other appropriate writ order or direction, directing the 1^st and 3^rd respondents to permit the petitioner to exercise option in tune with Ext.P2 notification; ii) to hold that delay in issuing Ext.P2 notification will not take away the right of students belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL) by exercising option in tune with Ext. P2.

iii) to direct the 1^st and 3^rd respondents to permit the petitioner to exercise option in tune with the judgement of the Honourable Supreme Court in SLP (C). No. 9885 of 2020 and consequential Ext. P2 notification;

iv) to hold that the petitioner is entitled to get the benefit of BPL Scholarship scheme for Medical Education”

3. After hearing both sides and on appreciation of materials on record, the learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition by the impugned judgment dated 11.11.2025. Paragraphs

2 to 5 of that judgment read thus:

“2. Learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted that, by reason of the delay in publishing Ext.P2 Government Order, BPL category candidates were prevented from exercising their option for MBBS at the stage of admission, since the prescribed course fee, without scholarship, will be around Rs.8 to 10 Lakhs. Reference is made to Ext.P7 Government O