STATE OF KARNATAKA Vs. M P SHYLAJA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from the order of Puttaswamy, J., allowing W. P. No. 17569 of 1980. Respondents 1 and 2 therein, the State of Karnataka and the Selection Committee for admission to Government Medical Colleges and Government Seats in Medical Colleges (hereinafter referred to as the Selection Committee), have presented this appeal. For the sake of convenience, the parties will hereinafter be referred to according to their respective positions in the writ petition.

(2.) The facts which led up to this appeal are, briefly, these: The petitioner was an applicant for admission to the M.B.B.S. Course. In her application, she described her caste as Bestar and claimed to belong to one of the Backward Tribes. Her father is a Medical Practitioner. His income was not stated in her application. She had enclosed with her application a Caste Certificate issued by the Tahsildar certifying that she belonged to Bestar caste. The Selection Committee interrogated her regarding the caste to which she belonged. During the course of such enquiry, she gave a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Selection Committee which read as follows:

(3.) The Selection Committee held that she did not belong to Bestar caste, which is one of the castes in the list of backward Tribes, but belonged to Bestha caste, which is a synonym for Gangakula, one of the castes in the list of Backward Castes appended to the Government Order providing for reservation for Backward classses for admission to colleges. As the marks secured by her were not sufficiently high for being selected in the category of seats reserved for Backward Castes, she was not selected.