ATUL KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) B. D. Agrawal, J. This is a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution. The petitioner Atul Kumar Singh was a candidate in the Combined Pre-Medical Test, 1982, conducted by the Kanpur University. He is son of Dr. S. R. Singh, Principal, Motilal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad. Dr. Singh is also an officer in the Territorial Army holding the rank of Lt. Colonel. In the application made in the prescribed form the petitioner claimed benefit of reservation under category of "children of present or ex-Army personnel (Male)". There was reservation of one seat in this category in the Medical College, Allahabad and two seats in K. G. Medical College, Lucknow. The preference indicated by the petitioner was for M. B. B. S. ; B. D. S. and B. H. M. S. (Homeopathy) in that Order and in respect of institutions his first choice was for Medical College, Allahabad. In the application the petitioner gave his address as under : "s/- Dr. S. R. Singh, R/o 1, Professor's Residence, M. L. N. Medical College, Allahabad. "

(2.) THE application submitted by the petitioner also contained a certificate in Form IV-A from the Registrar General Hospital, Territorial Army, Allahabad (countersigned by the District Magistrate, Allahabad to the effect that he is son of Dr. S. R. Singh r/o Hardoi (Dr. Singh is permanent resident of Hardoi.

(3.) SRI S. P. Gupta learned Counsel for the petitioner raised a twofold contention in support of the petition. It was urged that the expression "army personnel" used to describe the reserved category includes personnel of the Territorial Army. The 'army' comprises, it is submitted, not merely the regular Army but also the Army Reserve and the Territorial Army, Territorial Army personnel is subjected to rigors of discipline etc. as that of the regular Army and the argument further is that with suitable alterations the provisions of the Army Act, 1950 extend also to personnel of the Territorial Army constituted under the Territorial Army Act, 1948. The petitioner's father being an officer holding the rank of a Lt. Colonel in the Territorial Army, the argument proceeds, the petitioner is entitled to benefit of the reserved category. The other contention of the learned Counsel is that since admit card had been issued to the petitioner treating him as covered under this category, there can be no going back.