TAHZEEB AHMED Vs. JAMIA HAMDARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this petition for a Writ of Mandamus, the petitioner calls in question the constitutional validity of the conditions of eligibility stipulated by the respondent university for admission to the Bachelors course in Unani System of Medicine(BUMS) and for a direction to the university to admit him to the said course for the session 2003-04.

(2.) The petitioner has passed his intermediate examination from the Board of High School and Intermediate Education of Uttar Pradesh. He appears to have applied for admission to Bachelors course in Unani System of Medicine (BUMS) in the year 2000 for the session 2000-01 but failed to earn a seat for himself on the basis of his performance in the entrance test. For the session 2003-04, the respondent which happens to be a deemed university once again announced the admission process in response to which the petitioner also submitted an application and appeared in the entrance examination. He was, on the basis of his rank in the merit list prepared by the university, invited for admission to the course pursuant to which he appears to have submitted his requisite papers and offered the fee prescribed for the purpose. The university did not, however, grant admission to the petitioner on the ground that he was as on 1st October, 2003, more than 23 years old. Aggrieved by the said refusal to admission, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition assailing the validity of the conditions of eligibility prescribed by the university in so far as the same require the candidate to be less than 23 years of age as on 1st October, 2003.

(3.) I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. The prospectus issued by the respondent deemed university stipulates the courses of study offered by it and the conditions of eligibility for the same. For a 5 years degree course in Unani Medicine described as Kamil-e-Tibb-O-Jarahat (BUMS) to which the petitioner sought admission, the brochure prescribes the following conditions of eligibility:-