TUMNYAK ETE Vs. STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Claiming to be perplexed at the decision of the State Government and challenging the virus and constitutionality of the State Cabinet's decision to select and nominate candidates for pursuing the courses of MBBS and BDS on the basis of a policy, which provides for making selection and nomination of those candidates, who do not come within the zone of consideration on the basis of the merit list prepared following the Joint Entrance Examination (hereinafter, in short, called as "the JEE"), but are from such districts (s) from which no candidate could be selected on the basis of merit alone for pursuing the said courses, the principle, thus, being that each district of the State must get representation if any of its candidate has received the requisite qualifying marks, though he may be far lower than others in the merit list, the petitioners have approached this Court.

(2.) By this application made under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners, who find their names mentioned in the merit list prepared after the JEE, held for selecting candidates for, inter alia, MBBS and BDS Course, for the academic session 2002-2003, has approached this Court with prayer for, inter alia, issuing writ(s) setting aside and quashing the State Cabinet decision taken in the year 1992 and communicated to the Selection Committee concerned vide Government's policy letter, dated 23-6-95, (Annexure 3 to-the writ petition) issued by the Commissioner (Personnel) of the Government of A.P. Itanagar.

(3.) After the affidavit-in-opposition was filed in this case by the State respondents, the writ petitioners filed an additional affidavit and, thus, the case of the petitioners, which has finally emerged from their pleadings, may, in a narrow compass, put as follows. The petitioners are members of the local scheduled tribes and are permanent residents of the State of Arunachal Pradesh. The petitioners have passed Class XI examination with good marks from science stream and are eligible to be selected for admission to the post of MBBS and BDS in the colleges of any university. The Government of Arunachal Pradesh receives every year, some seats from distribution amongst students of Arunachal Pradesh for medical courses, namely, MBBS and BDS from Government of India as well as from regional medical institutions colleges on the ground that there is no Institution, in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, to impart such education. The seats so received are required to be distributed amongst the students, who qualify in the JEE (held for this purpose) in order of their merit. For the purpose of making selection, students are categorized into four categories, namely, Category-I, which comprises of all Tribal Students of Arunachal Pradesh and includes the children of State Govt. servants as well as all India service officers, Category-II, which comprises of children of Non-Tribal employees of the Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh. Category-Ill, which comprises of children of Non-Tribal All India Service employees and includes the children of employees of P&T, BRTF. CRPF, Army etc. who have served, at least, two years in Arunachal Pradesh, Category-IV, which consists of children of NonTribals, who have been staying for number of years in Arunachal Pradesh and are engaged in business or are privately employed and that 80% of seats are reserved for Category I. 12% for Category-II, 04% for Category-Ill and 04% for Category-IV. This year also, a JEE was conducted and the result of the said examination has been published on 19-6-2002. The minimum qualifying marks in the JEE was 30% for APST and 45% for non-APST candidates. In the merit list so published, petitioner Nos. 1 to 7 appear at Serial Nos. 24, 26, 27, 28. 29, 30 and 31 respectively. This year, same as the last year, the seats allotted by the Central Government are 24 for MBBS and 2 for BDS courses and the seats offered by regional colleges/institutions are 10 for MBBS and 3 for BDS courses. As per the relevant guidelines issued by the Central Government, the State of Arunachal Pradesh has to nominate the candidates strictly as per the merit list in order of their merit from the top. The petitioners had legitimate expectation of being nominated for MBBS and BDS courses, on their own merit, but to the utter dismay of the petitioners, they have been informed by the authorities concerned that the nomination will not be based entirely on merit, because there is a standing Cabinet decision of the State of A. P. adopted way back in the year 1992 (though, not advertised), whereby it stood resolved that no district of the State should go unrepresented, while selecting the candidates for MBBS and BDS courses. In other words, if a particular district goes unrepresented on account of the fact that no candidate from such a district can be nominated strictly on merit, then, if such a district has candidate(s), who stand(s) included in the merit list on securing the minimum qualifying marks, then, such candidate(s) will be nominated as representative of such unrepresented district(s), though such candidate (s) may not be as meritorious as others in the merit list. In the merit list prepared for the current year, as many as 7 districts are unrepresented and accordingly, candidates from these unrepresented districts will be selected superceding the petitioners fbr the courses of medical education. If the merit list is not strictly adhered to, then, the object and purpose of JEE will be defeated inasmuch as JEE is held for making selection on merit. The Cabinet decision aforementioned has no fixed criteria, it leaves a wide discretion/ scope for manipulation, it makes no intelligible differentia between candidates Of scheduled tribes and it will serve no meaningful purpose. This policy, if allowed to be implemented, will have far-reaching effect on meritorious candidates/students and ruin the quality of medical education and profession in the State of Arunachal Pradesh. The Cabinet decision has been reached with ulterior motives and on extraneous considerations and unless checked, it will facilitate vested interests to nominate their Own candidate(s) at the cost of merit. Such a policy of making selection on the basis of unrepresented districts is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India, hence the Cabinet decision/Government Policy, in question, deserves to be set aside and quashed.