JACOB Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONERS in all these original petitions are medical graduates. They applied for admission in Post Graduate Courses of medical education and they appeared in the entrance examination conducted by the Commissioner of Entrance Examination (for short'the Commissioner') who is an officer of the Government of Kerala. l0% seats in each subject of the post graduate course have been earmarked for candidates belonging to Scheduled caste/scheduled Tribe as per the prospectus issued by the Directorate of medical Education. Reservations were made for certain other categories of medical graduates, but those reservations are not relevant for the purpose of these cases. Standards have been laid down in the prospectus for the eligibility to be included in the list to be prepared by the Commissioner, It had been specified in the prospectus that candidates securing less than 40% marks in the case of Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe in the Entrance examination shall -not be included in the merit list. However, it is provided that in the absence of eligible candidates in the reservation quota, those seats would be made available to Candidates based on general merit. For such candidates, 50% is the minimum marks fixed.

(2.) WHEN the results of the entrance test examination were known, only a very few candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste/scheduled Tribe had secured marks sufficient for admission and such number was far below the quota of 10% reserved for them. So the Government issued a Government Order (G. O. Rt. 1255/88 H & PWD dated 10-5-88) modifying the prospectus by reducing the cut of marks as for the Scheduled Caste/scheduled Tribe candidates to 30%. The commissioner has been directed by the Government to prepare a revised select list on the basis of the modified prospectus.

(3.) LEARNED Advocate General argued that none of those contentions would stand in view of the latest decision of the Supreme Court reported in Aarti Gupta v. State of Punjab (AIR 1988 S. C. 481 ). LEARNED counsel for the petitioner in O. P. No. 3952/88 advanced a further contention that the State of Kerala has no power to reduce the minimum marks of the scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe candidates from 40% to 30% inasmuch as the standard has been fixed by the Indian Medical Council governed by the Indian medical Council Act which was passed by the Parliament. The fixation of the standards of medical education is a subject falling within Entry No. 66 of list no. I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.