TRIPURA GUARDIANS FORUM Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The facts leading to this petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India may, in brief, be noted. The Tripura Board of Joint Entrance Examination conducted Joint Entrance Examination, 1992 for admission to professional degree colleges and or institutes. The comparative merit of the candidates was published on 16-6-92. Thereafter, the Government of Tripura issued a memorandum on 17-6-92 for reservation of seats in the professional courses for sons and daughters of Freedom Fighters, Political Sufferers and Social Workers, and for the persons having special career in sports and games belonging to the State of Tripura. The relevant part of the order runs as follows :

(2.) Mr. S. N. Medhi, learned counsel for the petitioner, has contended that the memorandum issued by the Government for reservation of seats is unconstitutional and is violative of Arts. 14, 15 and 29 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) It is settled that Art. 14 forbids class legislation; it does not forbid reasonable classification. In order, however, to pass the test of permissible classification two conditions must be fulfilled, namely, (i) that the classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the group, and (ii) that the differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question. The classification may be founded on different basis, namely, geographical, or according to objects or occupations or the like. What is necessary is that there must be a nexus between the basis of classification and the object of the Act under consideration.