Constitutional validity of 100% reservation policies in Super Speciality courses was affirmed as unconstitutional; merit-based admissions favored.

1. Leave granted.

2. This is a classic example where despite having succeeded in the proceedings before the High Court, the Appellants have not got the fruits of their victory. Although, initially there were five petitioners in the two Special Leave Petitions (now appeals) which we are considering, during the pendency of the matters all the petitioners, other than Dr. Amish Kiran Bhai Mehta, opted for separate disciplines and are no longer interested in admission to the Super Speciality Courses concerned. The appeals are, therefore, confined only to Dr. Amish Kiran Bhai Mehta.

3. The constitutional validity of reservations for local students by the State for admission to Super Speciality Medical Courses in the State of Kerala, commencing from the academic year 2010-2011, was the subject matter of the writ petition before the learned Single Judge of the Kerala High Court. The prospectus for admissions provided that students who had completed MBBS or Post - graduate courses from Medical Colleges in Kerala and Doctors who had done Rural Service in Kerala, would be given preference for admission and students who were not from Kerala would get a chance for admission only if there were no students from the State of Kerala available for admission in the aforesaid courses.

4. Altogether, 85 seats were available for the Super Speciality Courses in the DM and MCH groups, of which 19 seats were reserved for Doctors who were in Government service and the remaining 66 seats were available for selection in the open merit quota. After the selection process had commenced, the prospectus was amended limiting reservation in respect of candidates with Rural Service in Kerala to 10% of the seats and enlarging the scope for students of Kerala origin and children of members of All India Service in Kerala. Students who were from outside Kerala and had participated in the written examination, questioned both the original and revised terms of the different prospectus and challenged the preferences and reservation provided to the local students in the prospectus. The learned Single Judge dismissed their writ petitions on the ground that after participating in the entrance examination they were not entitled to challenge the prospectus. However, in the writ appeals preferred by the said students, the question as to whether it was open to the writ petitioners to challenge the prospectus in Court, was referred to a Full Bench, which, after holding that the writ petitions were maintainable, remanded the matters to the appeal Court for a decision on merits. In the appeals, the appellants prayed for restoration of the original prospectus, which would have the effect of restoring unlimited preference to Doctors having performed Rural Service in Kerala. The remaining writ appeals were filed by the State challenging the decision of the learned Single Judge declaring the provisions of the original prospectus and the revised prospectus providing for reservation for Kerala students only, as unconstitutional.

5. At this stage it may be kept in mind that challenge to the original and subsequent prospectus was based mainly on the ground that 100% reservation was unconstitutional as had been held by a Constitution Bench of this Court in Saurabh Chaudri and Others v. Union of India and Others , 2003 KHC 1439 : 2003 (11) SCC 146 : 2003 (3) KLT SN 187 : AIR 2004 SC 361 : JT 2003 (8) SC 296. The Division Bench of the High Court has extracted the relevant portion from the judgment in Saurabh Chaudri's case, relating to reservation at the level of Super Speciality. It was, inter alia, held that the higher the level of speciality, the lesser the role of