VIJAY KUMAR THALOR Vs. UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayers:-

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner and also contended by Mr. L.R. Khatana that as per the Bulletin/Prospectus inviting applications for admissions in different branches of Ph.D. and M. Phil Courses, the petitioner had applied for M. Phil (Geography). There were total 14 seats in the M. Phil (Geography) out of which 7 were for Unreserved Category, 4 for OBC Category, 2 for SC Category and remaining 1 for ST Category. The petitioner had appeared in the written examination and had obtained 49.50 marks and had succeeded in obtaining 16th position in combined ranking and 7th position under OBC Category. According to him, against 7 seats in the Unreserved Category, 2 OBC candidates got admission in the said Category and therefore candidates at 3rd to 6th position in OBC category were offered admission against 4 reserved seats under OBC category. He states that the petitioner who had secured 7th rank in the OBC Category missed his chance of admission by one rank. He would contend that the petitioner's chance of getting admission in the course were upturned after one candidate namely Leiyaton C who secured combined merit of 6 with 53.80 marks and who got admission in Unreserved Category, did not take admission. He would also state, as per Rule 4.4 contained in the admission Bulletin/Prospectus, the admission in the Unreserved Category shall be made in the order of merit and the candidate who was next best rank in the combined category rank i.e 8th rank in the present case shall be offered the seat vacated by Leiyaton C and the said candidate being, Sashi Sagolsem No.1 candidate in OBC category. According to him, this would have entailed the candidate below Sashi Sagolsem in the OBC category to move one place up and occupy the first vacancy of OBC category resulting in a vacancy at the 4th place, to be filled by the petitioner being at 7th position in the OBC category.

(3.) It is his case, that was not done. Rather, in terms of letter dated August 17, 2016, the seat has been offered to one Sonam Bhadouria who is at combined rank No. 11 and belongs to General Category. He has drawn my attention to clause 2.1 to contend that the Bulletin/Prospectus clearly stipulates that reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes to the prescribed extent was to apply in compliance with the Rules notified by the University. He has also drawn my attention to the representation of the petitioner dated August 17, 2016 and the letter dated September 23, 2016 written by the Deputy Registrar (Academics) to the Head of Department of Geography, University of Delhi wherein it has been stated that as per the guidelines in Bulletin of Information, the single vacancy arising under the unreserved category should have been filled by the next person in the merit list i.e. 8th rank in the merit list who is otherwise an OBC Category candidate. He would rely on the judgment of the Supreme Court reported as (1996) 3 SCC 253 Ritesh R. Sah v. Dr. Y.L. Yamul and others in support of his contention.