UNION OF INDIA Vs. R RAJESHWARAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Respondent filed a writ petition in the high Court of Madras seeking a direction to the petitioner to apply the rule of reservation to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in respect of those seats which are set apart for all India pool in the M. B. B. S. or B. D. S. list. He had applied specifically in the category of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe for the All india Pre-medical Entrance Examination, 1999. However, when the results were published, he found that no separate list had been published in respect of that category. He contended that there is a constitutional obligation to provide a special reservation to the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes in the all India quota as otherwise, it would be violation of Article 15 (4) of the Constitution of India. He sought for a direction to apply the rule of reservation.

(3.) A learned single judge of the High court held that the seats that are made available from various states are normally subject to the rule of reservation and the 15% of the seats allowed to the all India quota would, in the ordinary circumstances, have been reserved for the scheduled caste and schedule tribe candidates but for the directions of this Court under a scheme. He also noticed that there is no specific order of this Court not to apply the reservation rule to all india quota which is provided only to overcome the difficulty of residential requirement and, therefore, these seats must also provide for reservation on the ground of social and economic backwardness in terms of Article 15 (4) and the directives principles of state policy. Thus, he allowed the writ petition directing to set apart and reserve seats for the socially and educationally backward classes as per the policy of the government making it clear that out of the 15% of the seats allocated, there should be reservation for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.