ANJANA GEORGE Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner had submitted application for appearing in the entrance examination for admissions to Kerala Engineering/Pharmacy/Architecture/Medical and Medical Allied Courses (KEAM) 2020. According to her even though she belongs to OBC (LC), in her application her community status was stated as General instead of OBC (LC). It is stated that against the Minority status she had correctly shown her status as All Christian. According to her the mistake happened due to an inadvertent miss-communication regarding the details of Creamy Layer Certificate since her mother who is a doctor was in quarantine in September 2020. Petitioner submits that she could not cure any defects since she did not receive any memo from the respondents for curing defects. Even though the respondents issued a notification Ext.P5 on 24.09.2020 providing for an opportunity for the candidates to cure the defects, it was specifically stated that candidates cannot upload new certificates/documents to avail new claim. Therefore she could not avail that opportunity. Producing Ext.P2 Non Creamy Layer certificate issued on 23.09.2020 petitioner claims that she should be permitted to rectify the entry against her caste/community as Other Backward Caste (Latin Catholic) and to upload the Non Creamy Layer certificate in her profile for KEAM. According to her Ext.P5 notification to the extent it does permit correction of her community status is illegal.

(2.) Learned Government Pleader on instructions furnished the entire procedure followed by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations starting from 07.11.2019 till date. It is stated that the notification with respect to schedule of entrance examination for KEAM 2020 was issued on 07.11.2019. Thereafter on 26.11.2019 a notification was issued by the Entrance Commissioner informing that the procedure for submission of application for KEAM 2020 would be started in January 2020 onwards and in order to avail category/reservation benefits all eligible candidates should upload relevant category certificates along with the Online application form. On 23.12.2019 another notification was issued again informing the candidates to get themselves prepared with all the certificates in advance for uploading the same along with the application and specifically stating that only those certificates that would be uploaded along with the online application would be accepted. Further in the notification issued by the Commissioner on 31.01.2020 inviting applications for admission to Engineering/Architecture/Pharmacy/Medical & Allied Courses, it was specifically provided in Clause 6 that the candidates have to upload their photograph, date of birth proof, nativity proof as well as all the supporting documents and eligibility certificates on or before 29.02.2020 05.00 p.m. It is further stated that the prospectus was approved by Government on 31.01.2020 and uploaded in the website on 02.02.2020 which contains a specific provision in Clause 5 in Note(i) to the effect that claims for Special/Mandatory reservation must be made by a candidate in the online application and supporting documents shall be uploaded to the online application within the stipulated time, specifically stating that claims made after the submission of online application will not be entertained and even if supporting evidences are produced the claims for special and mandatory reservation once made in the application cannot be altered by the candidate under any circumstances. Clause 7 provided that the certificate should be uploaded along with online applications including certificates/documents for communal/special reservation. Another press release was issued on 15.02.2020 regarding submission of applications. On 24.02.2020 the last date for submission of application was extended on 29.02.2020. On 28.02.2020 it was informed that the last date would not be extended. Petitioner had submitted her application on 29.02.2020 and in the said application the petitioner did not claim any reservation and her claim was in general quota as evident from Ext.P3 application produced by her along with the writ petition. The petitioner did not upload any certificate claiming any reservation. On 11.05.2020 the Commissioner issued another notification requesting the candidates to verify their profile and rectify the defects by 05.00 p.m., on 25.05.2020. The entrance examination was held on 16.07.2020 and KEAM Scores were published on 09.09.2020. The rank list for admission to Engineering and Pharmacy courses were published on 24.09.2020 and the centralised allotment process to Professional Degree Courses for the year 2020-21 commenced on 30.09.2020 inviting online options for Engineering and Pharmacy courses. The provisional categorywise list of candidates who applied for admission to Engineering and Pharmacy courses and who were allowed with eligible communal reservation/special reservation/reservation under persons with disability was published on 01.10.2020 and final category list was published on 03.10.2020 on which day trial allotment was also made. It is stated that the first phase of allotment would commence on 07.10.2020. It is also stated that 1120 candidates within the rank from 69 to 53211 are Latin Catholics and Anglo Indian Category. Apart from that there are 1079 candidates between the rank 104 and 46019 for Pharmacy. Therefore the learned Govt. Pleader points out that petitioner did not avail any opportunity which was made available and was made mention of from 07.11.2019 onwards and she did not avail the opportunities made available after submitting application. The learned Government Pleader also relies on the Division Bench judgment of this Court dated 14.08.2020 in W.A.No.1080 of 2020 in which similar claims of candidates who did not upload the documents at the relevant time was considered and rejected after elaborately considering the procedure adopted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations and with reference to the case law on the subject.