D JAYASRI Vs. KAKATIYA MEDICAL COLLAGE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in these three writ petitions are applicants for admission to Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal, who have been denied admission on the ground that the Mulki (domicile of Telangana region) certificate obtained by them did not satisfy the requirements of the rules of admission. The petitioner in W.P. No. 1134 of 1965 is a woman candidate who passed the P.U.C. examination of the Andhra University having obtained 57 per cent, in Biological sciences. She married in May 1965, one Lakshmanarao, a person domiciled in Nizamabad and who himself obtained admission in one of the Medical Colleges in Hyderabad as a Mulki. It may be stated that the applicant obtained a domicile certificate from the District Collector, Nizamabad on 18/6/1965 and applied for admission on 19/6/1965. Notwithstanding this, the Selection Committee refused to consider her case as a candidate from Telangana region. The respondent College in its counter challenged, the claim of the petitioner to be considered a candidate from Telangana region. It was averred that even though under the law a married woman takes the domicile of her husband irrespective of her earlier domicile, the domicile to be considered for the purposes of admission is not the legal domicile but the factum of residence in a particular region, and considered from this point of view, admittedly on the fact stated by the petitioner herself, she neither belongs to, nor has residence of 15 years in, the Telangana region. It was averred that the petitioner was claiming legal domicile on the basis of marriage and Hot domicile on the basis of residence. As such, the Selection Committee was right in not considering the petitioner's application as from the Telangana region. It was also contended that the petitioner's application was considered as from the Andhra area and that according to the rules, the decision of the Selection Committee in respect of the question whether a candidate is from Telangana region or Andhra region is final and cannot be questioned. So also, the selection of a candidate. In paragraph 8, it was also stated that even if she was considered as a candidate from the Telangana region, she could not be included in the first list, as the thirteenth candidate selected from the Telangana region has secured 53.75 per cent. marks. She would however, stand second in the reserve list if she was considered as coming from the Telangana region.

(2.) In Writ Petition No. 1184 of 1965, the petitioner was a candidate who secured 66 per cent, in Biological Sciences in P.U.C. of the Osmania University examination held in March, 1965. He produced a Mulki certificate on the ground that he was born in the village of Bodalabanda in Khammam taluk. It appears the petitioner had to leave school in his young age, as he lost his mother, but he joined the Jothi Tutorial College at Khammam. He appeared for the Andhra Matric as a private candidate and passed in it. His application was also rejected on the assumption that he cannot be considered to be a candidate from Telangana region. In the counter, the Principal of the College stated that for the Telangana region, 98 seats have been allotted, out of which 85 seats have been reserved for the men students and 13 for the women students; Similarly, 10 seats have been allotted to the Andhra region out of which 8 have been reserved for men students and 2 for women students, that in selecting the candidates from Telangana region, regard will be had to the Mulki certificate issued by the duly authorised Government Officer in the prescribed form, the correctness of which will be verified by the Principal and the Executive Secretary of the College before actual admission to the College. It is averred that in column 10 of the application form, which inquires information about the place from which the candidate has passed his Middle School examination, was left blank, and he stated against the column which relates to the place where he had the High School education, he stated 'Andhra Matric, from Jyothi Tutorial College, Khamnam.' The Selection Committee gathered that he must have had middle school education in the Andhra region and on that basis, as he had not the requisite residence of 15 years, in the Telangana region, his application was rejected. The petitioner had not Stated in his application form that he had his entire education in Bodalabanda village nor was there any column in the admission form requiring him to do so.

(3.) In W.P. No. 1255 of 1965, the petitioner's father as well as the petitioner, were the erstwhile subjects of H.E.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad, being natives of Raichur District. The petitioner who was staying with his maternal grand father, had his education upto 7th Standard in Raichur District (Salar Jung Estate). The petitioner's father is a Doctor. The father studied from the 4th Form till he completed his S.S.L.C. in 1934, in Vivek Vardhani High School, Hyderabad, thereafter studied for Intermediate course in the Osmania University College and took his B.Sc. degree from the same College. In 1942, he was admitted to the Osmania Medicai College and studied upto 1951, and underwent training as a house-surgeon in 1952 and 1953. Since 1953, he has been practising in Mahaboob-nagar, where he has a residential house, so that, apart from belonging to the erstwhile Hyderabad State, he has been residing continuously for 35 years in the Telangana areas from 1930 onwards, either as a student or as a medical practitioner. He complains that the Selection Committee rejected his son's application without giving him an opportunity and says that had he been given an opportunity, he could have placed these facts before the Selection Committee. In the counter, the Principal averred that the petitioner stated in his application that he had middle school education in the Government Middle School, Kinhal (Tq. Koppal, District Raichur), that he had his High School or Multipurpose education at Nruptunga Multipurpose High School, Hyderabad, that he had enclosed a Mulki certificate, that inasmuch as the Selection Committee took into consideration the residence of the petitioner in the Telangana region and having found that he resided in Telangana region from 1960 onwards, which is also admitted by the petitioner, it did not consider the petitioner's application. Similar averments as in the other petitions, with respect to the number of seats allocated for men and women candidates from Telangana and Andhra region, the reservation in favour of the Selection Committee of the power to verify the correctness of the domicile certificate, and the finality of their decision were made. Apart from the relevant facts in each case, in all the three writ petitions the counters challenged the jurisdiction of the Court to entertain the petitions, inasmuch as the respondent College is a private College and the provisions of the Constitution guaranteeing the fundamental rights are only applicable to the Colleges run by the Government, and not to private colleges, nor do the petitioners have any right to obtain a writ of mandamus. Accordingly, it was contended that no writ could be issued against the Society of the respondent-College or the authorities of the College because they are neither public authorities nor authorities performing public duties enjoined upon them by any law. It is further contended that the position of the Society and the College and the authorities is that of a private person and as the private person is not performing any public duty enjoined by law, no writ, direction or order can be issued under the provisions of Article 226 of the Constitution of India that even though the President of the Society, i.e., the District Collector, and the Principal of the College, are Government servants, the functions they are performing are not in their capacity as Government servants; further, these functions are not being performed by them under any law of the land and they are performed by them in pursuance of the rules or prospectus framed by the Society, which have no statutory force. In this view, it was prayed that all these Writ Petitions must be dismissed.