V M NAGAMANI Vs. UIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is a resident of jagalur and claim to be a person belonging to an agricultural family. The petitioner's case is that the father of the petitioner is an agriculturist and the agricultural income is the only source. The petitioner had her education from I Standard to II P. U. C. in Jagalur town, the population of which is less than 50,000. She has secured 86. 35 in P. C. B. As per the prospectus and instructions issued by the University, she applied for admission to B. V. Sc. Course along with the documents showing that she is coming from a rural area and an agricultural family. She appeared for the counselling on 20-9-2002 along with the documents. The respondents have refused to consider her application under the reservation category viz. , rural quota or children of an agriculturist on the ground that the certificate produced by her is not countersigned by the appropriate authority, and the certificate produced by her to show that she is coming from an agricultural family does not satisfy the requirements prescribed under law and therefore she is deprived of a seat. Therefore, she has filed this writ petition seeking a writ of mandamus to direct the first respondent to admit the petitioner for B. V. Sc. Course by considering her case as a student under the rural quota and a person belonging to agricultural family.

(2.) RESPONDENTS have filed their statement of objections and they contend that the petitioner does not satisfy the requirements prescribed under law. As such, she is not entitled to the benefit.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner Sri a. V. Gangadharappa contends that in the prospectus issued by the University, for the purpose of rural quota it has been categorically stated that the person who has studied from I to X Standard in an area where the population is less than 50,000 is entitled to the said benefit. Accordingly, though the appropriate authority has not countersigned the certificate issued by the Head Master of the school, the certificate produced by her shows thai the population of Jagalur is 12,099 and therefore he contends that the petitioner satisfies the requirement in law for being considered under the rural quota. Insofar as her claim under the person belonging to an agricultural family is concerned, annexure-E produced along with the writ petition which is issued by the Tahsildar categorically states that the petitioner's father and their family members are permanent residents of Bistuvalli village and in the name of the petitioner's grand father an extent of 34 acres 6 guntas of land stands and therefore, the petitioner also staisfies the requirement of a student who is coming from an agricultural family. According to the rules, 50% of the marks obtained in P. C. B. of the II year has to be considered and the 50% of the marks obtained in Veterinary entrance Test is to be considered. If that is done, the petitioner gets 74. 8% and 10% is added, the petitioner gets the total percentage of 83. 8%, whereas in the General Merit a person who has secured 81. 61% has been awarded a seat in the B. V. Sc. Course and therefore he submits that a merited student has been deprived of a seat for which she is legally entitled to.