IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED: 29.03.2022

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE DR. JUSTICE ANITA SUMANTH

W.P.No.711 of 2022

&

W.M.P.Nos.776 & 777 of 2022

Divya Dinesh

...Petitioner

Vs

1. The Government of Puducherry,

Rep. by the Special-Secretary-Cum-District

Collector

Department of Revenue and Disaster

Management,

Govt. of Union Territory of Puducherry.

2. The Regional Administrator Cum Deputy

Collector (Revenue)

Government of Puducherry

Mahe, Puducherry – 673 310.

3. The Deputy Tahsildar (Revenue),

Sub Taluk Office,

Government of Puducherry,

Mahe, Puducherry – 673 310.

4. The Convener,

Centralized Admission Committee [CENTAC]

Government of Puducherry,

Puducherry.

... Respondents

Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution

of India, to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to call for

the records pertaining to the impugned Notification of the 1^st

respondent in Note No.1-4/SS(Rev.)/DRDM/PA/2010 Dated 07.01.2010

and the consequent Order of dismissal by the 2^nd respondent in

No.1918/DCRM/A1/2022/979 dated 08.01.2022 based on the order of

rejection by the 3^rd respondent in Letter No.1034/STOM/T3/2021

dated 12.11.2021 and to quash the same with a direction to the 3^rd

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respondent to issue Residence/Nativity Certificate to the

petitioner as the resident of 'Mahe' in the Union Territory of

Puducherry to enable the petitioner to avail Government Quota

Seat in Post Graduate Medical Course in Government/Private

Medical Colleges of Union Terriotry of Puducherry for the

academic year 2021-22.

For Petitioner : Mr.V.Radhakrishnan

Senior Counsel

for S.Kadarkarai

For Respondents : Mr.J.Kumaran

Additional Government Pleader

O R D E R

The petitioner is an aspirant to a Post-graduate seat in the

Union Territory of Puducherry in the Government quota. The

prospectus issued by the Government of Puducherry, Directorate of

Higher & Technical Education for admission to Post Graduate

Medical Degree Courses for the year 2021-22, where the

counselling agency is CENTAC, prescribes several eligibility

criteria for the candidates, specific to Government seats and

Government quota seats in private medical colleges.

2. Inter alia, it is mandated that an aspirant must be a

‘resident’ of the Union Territory of Puducherry and furnish a

certificate of residence, issued by a competent authority. This

is the only issue that requires resolution in this case, as the

eligibility of the petitioner on all other fronts is not in

question.

3. The petitioner had had her education from Kindergarden to the

XII Standard in Mahe while living with her parents. She has

completed her graduation in MBBS from the Arupadai Veedu Medical

College & Hospital, Puducherry, having been allotted a seat in

the CENTAC quota in the year 2015.

4. She served as a Resident Medical Officer at Tely Medical

Centre, Telicherry, Kerala and joined the Indian Army on

22.10.2018, serving as a Captain in Madhya Pradesh. While in

military service, she married, on 10.03.2019, a medical doctor, a

resident of Madurai.

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5. She resigned from the Army and was relieved therefrom on

10.01.2020 and moved to Coimbatore setting up home with her

husband. Therafter, she travelled to Mahe for prenatal purposes,

delivering a child on 21.11.2021. She would state that at the

time of filing this Writ Petition, she was in Mahe with her

parents.

6. The trajectory of events as above reveals that after

completion of the MBBS Course in 2015, till return to her

parental home in 2021, she has not been staying at Mahe. She

applied for the Post Graduate course believing that she satisfies

the definition of 'resident' for the purposes of the