ARJUN CHANDRA NAIK Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner serves as Divisional Medical Officer in a senior Class I post of the Central Government. At present he is posted at Khurda Road Division of the South-Eastern Railways. He claims to belong to the Scheduled Tribes. Having already completed service for over five years under the Central Government including rural service, he applied for admission to the Post-Graduate Course ('P. G. Course' for short) in general medicine in one of the three Medical Colleges in Orissa for the academic session 1983-84. Although he was eligible for selection in all respects, he was not selected. He again applied for admission for the academic session 1984-85 for the same course. Although he was eligible for selection for one of the seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates and some seats are still vacant, he was wrongly refused admission on the ground that there was no reservation for Medical Officers serving under the Central Government belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Such refusal was on account of paragraph 5.5 of the Prospectus for the session 1984-85. The petitioner has accordingly prayed for striking down the said paragraph of the Prospectus being ultra vires Art.15(4) of the Constitution of India and for admission to the P. G. Course in general medicine.

(2.) Opposite party No. 1 alone has filed counter and has opposed the petition. It is stated therein that seats were reserved for Post-Graduate Courses of the three Medical Colleges for inservice Medical Officers of the State belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. As a special concession some seats were reserved for Medical Officers serving under the Central Government to be selected strictly in accordance with merit. The petitioner, according to his own admission, was an applicant sponsored by the Central Government for admission to the P. G. Course in general medicine during the academic session 1983-84, as well as, during the session 1984-85. He did not produce any certificate from the competent authority that he belonged to the Scheduled Tribes. His application was considered in the category of Medical Officers belonging to the Central Government and on consideration of merit it was not possible to admit him to P. G. Course in general medicine. Paragraph 5.5 of the Prospectus is not ultra vires Art.15(4) of the Constitution of India and accordingly the petitioner is not entitled to admission.

(3.) In order to appreciate the contentions raised, it is necessary to quote the following paragraphs from the prospectus for selection to Resident House Staff and admission to Post-Graduate Courses in the three Medical Colleges of Orissa for the session 1984-85.