ABHIRAMI PRAKASH Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner appeared in the Entrance Examination conducted by KEAM 2020. She belongs to Hindu Ezhava Community recognized as Socially and Educationally Backward Community. On getting qualified in NATA - 2020 conducted by Council of Architecture with a score of 121.5/200, she was allotted to Mangalam School of Architecture, which is a Self Financing College, as per Ext.P4 Memo, dated 23.10.2020. The complaint of the petitioner is that even though the third respondent issued a notification Ext.P5 on 16.11.2020, calling upon the option of candidates to participate in mop-up allotment, the petitioner was not denied the opportunity. It is stated that she was allotted to a College, which was 10th in her option list. According to her, in case, an opportunity was granted to her, she would have got admission in any of the colleges for which she had given higher options. It is stated that the candidates portal was kept open on 12.11.2020 after 12.00 p.m; but she could not exercise her option and she could not also appear in the mop- up allotment on account of the restriction imposed on those who joined Self Financing Colleges.

(2.) As pointed out by Sri. V. Manu, the learned Senior Government Pleader, the issue raised by the petitioner is covered against the petitioner, by the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Hanna Thasnim v. State of Kerala and Others [2014 KHC 210] rendered in more or less similar circumstances. The learned Government Pleader relied on the judgment of the Apex Court in Arvind Kumar Kankane v. State of U.P. and Others [2001 KHC 1650] also, in support of his contention.

(3.) Having heard the learned Counsel appearing on both sides, it is seen that the issue raised in this writ petition is covered by the judgment of the Division Bench in Hanna Thasnim's case (supra). In that case, the petitioner therein approached this Court when students lower down in the rank list were given admission in Government College in the mop up allotment, in which petitioner was unable to participate because all her higher options were cancelled on her admission in a self financing college, even in the absence of any notification published in the website regarding the same and her homepage was removed from the portal. The procedure adopted by the respondents was upheld seeing that it was in tune with the provisions in the agreement entered into between the self financing colleges and the Government. The observations in relevant portion of paragraph Nos.30 and 31 of the said judgment read as follows: