The judgment establishes the principle that scholarship selection processes must be transparent, reasonable, and fair, and the absence of reasons for exclusion can indicate arbitrariness warranting judicial scrutiny.

F.M. Reis, J.

1. The above Writ Petition, inter alia, seeks for a declaration that the selection of Respondent no. 3 to 25 for the award of Goa Scholars 2013-14 Scholarship and at last the selection of Respondent nos. 3 to 14 are null and void and the amount of scholarship already disbursed be repaid to the Government. The further relief sought by the Petitioner is to direct the Respondent nos. 1 and 2 to award the Goa Scholars 2013-14 Scholarship to the Petitioner.

2. Briefly, the facts of the case are that an advertisement was issued in the Navhind Times calling for the Goa Scholars 2013-14 Scholarship online on or before 23.07.2013. The scheme was not meant to be financial assistance but would recognise the merit and merit alone. Thereafter the advertisement was amended calling for applications off line on or before 30.07.2013. The Petitioner passed his degree examination in Mechanical Engineering through BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Campus in 2012 standing first in Mechanical Engineering and 5th among 588 students at BITS Pilani, and, as such, submitted an application for registration which was registered under no. 1335. An email was received from the Respondent no. 2 to keep himself free on 18th and 19th August 2013 for interview. A request was made by the Petitioner to re-schedule the date of the interview as the Petitioner was traveling on 18th and 19th enroute to Michigan, USA, where he had taken admission to the course of Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan ranking 17th in the world. Thereafter, an email was received from the Respondent no. 2 informing the Petitioner that he is shortlisted and that for the purpose of conducting an interview, a Skype ID was also emailed to the Petitioner. The interview of the Petitioner via Skype took place on 19.08.2013 and the results were declared in the newspaper on 20.08.2013 which did not include the name of the Petitioner. It is pointed out by the Petitioner that he was at serial no. 1 in the short listed candidates. Thereafter, the Petitioner through his father, made an application for information from the Respondent no. 2 under the Right to Information Act, 2005, and, on receipt of such information, the Petitioner noticed that the short listing of the candidates for the Award of the Scholarship was fraught with arbitrariness, bias and illegalities and, as such decided to file the present Writ Petition. As the Petitioner is already in USA, a Power of Attorney had to be executed in favour of his father and, accordingly, on 06.03.2014, the Petitioner executed another Power of Attorney before the Indian Consulate which was required in terms of law and the Collector adjudicated the duty on 17.03.2014 and accordingly the above Petition came to be filed.

3. Shri R. G. Ramani, learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner, has pointed out that the Petitioner was shortlisted and the selection of the candidates for the “Goa Scholars 2013-14” is fraught with arbitrariness, bias and illegalities. Learned Counsel further pointed out that there are no reasons given as to why the Petitioner has been excluded from getting such scholarship. Learned Counsel further submits that as the scheme itself provided that merit and merit alone would be recognised to get such scholarship, there was no reason for the Petitioner to be excluded from getting such scholarship as he was shortlisted at serial no. 1 in the merit list. Learned Counsel further pointed out that the Petitioner has passed out from a prestigious Institution in Goa and stood first in Mechanical Engineering at BITS Pilani and, as such, he was naturally entitled to get such scholarship. Learned Counsel has taken us through the scheme of the Goa Scholars 2013-14 to point out that the admissions had to be obtained from the first fifty institutions of the World whereas there were candidates who were not admitted in said Universities and, as such, were disqualified for such scholarship. Learned Counsel has taken