J C PRIYADARSHINI Vs. STATE OF A P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner appeared for Engineering, Medical and Agricultural Common Entrance Test, 2000 (EAMCET 2000) and she obtained the rank of 16956.She belongs to Scheduled Caste and her father is an Ex-Serviceman, who was discharged from Indian Air Force in the year 1993. She claimed reservation under both. As per rules, the first phase of counseling was held on 16.9.2000 when she was considered against Ex-Servicemen quota. She alleges that though seats were available in SRKR College, Bhimavaram, which, according to her, is one of the best Colleges, the 3rd respondent rejected her candidature on the ground that she is not a local candidate with reference to Andhra University local area, presumably, for the reason that the petitioner, admittedly, studied from VIII to X Classes at Chennai.The petitioner's father submitted a detailed representation requesting to consider her daughter to be a local candidate of Andhra University local area as she comes within the definition of local candidate as per para 2(1) of the Notification/EAMCET application form. Be that as it is, again the second phase of counseling was conducted on 5.10.2000. This time, the petitioner was offered a seat in Godavari Institute of Engineering, Rajahmundry in B.E. (Electronics & Communication Engineering). The petitioner accepted the seat and she was admitted during the academic year 2000-01. Again, the counseling was conducted from 9.11.2000 to 9.12.2000 for rank holders (women) with ranks 15001 to 17000 of all categories. But, the petitioner was not considered as a local candidate. Therefore, the present Writ Petition is filed praying this Court to issue writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in not treating the petitioner as local candidate as contrary to A.P. Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions) Order, 1974 ('the Presidential Order' for brevity) and to direct the respondents to consider the claim of the petitioner as local candidate and grant her admission in accordance with her option to a College and course to which she would be eligible as a local candidate of Andhra University local area.

(2.) This Court passed orders on 21.11.2000 directing the respondents to reserve one seat to the petitioner in Gandhi Institute of Technology and Medicine (GITAM), Visakhapatnam. During the pendency of the Writ Petition, the petitioner has completed two years course of study and she is, as submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner, in the third year.Learned counsel for the petitioner Sri S.Shiva places reliance on paragraph 4(1)(b) of the Presidential Order in support of the contention that the residence in relation to a minor girl/boy must be with reference to the residence of the parents. A minor has no choice of choosing a residence and would be compelled to move around with the parents wherever they go. Therefore, he contends that if parents are residents of Andhra University area, wherever the petitioner has studied during the last ten years ending up with the qualifying examination i.e. Intermediate, he or she must be treated as local candidate. He placed reliance on the judgments of the Supreme Court in Meenakshi Malik v University of Delhi and others, Chairman, University of Health Sciences and Another v K. Tulasiram and Another. The learned counsel also distinguished the Full Bench judgment of this Court in Bathina Rajya Shilpa and etc. etc., v NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada and others, which is directly on the point.

(3.) Paragraph 4(1) of the Presidential Order reads as under: 4. Local Candidate:- (1) A candidate for admission to any course of study shall be regarded as a local candidate in relation to a local area- (a) if he has studied in an educational institution or educational institutions in such local area for a period of not less than four consecutive academic years ending with the academic year in which he appeared or, as the case may be, first appeared in the relevant qualifying examination; or (b) where, during the whole or any part of the four consecutive academic years ending with the academic year in which he appeared or, as the case may be, first appeared for the relevant qualifying examination, he has not studied in any educational institution, if he has resided in that local area for a period of not less than four years immediately preceding the date of commencement of the relevant qualifying examination in which he appeared or, as the case may be, first appeared.