MAHENDRA KAMPRAI Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two matters are taken up together as they raise certain common questions of law. Writ Appeal No.182 /06 arises out of a judgment of this court dated 19.5.06 in WP(C) No.1926/06.

(2.) The facts leading to filing of the above mentioned writ petition are as follows:- Three petitioners challenged the admission of the respondent Nos.4 and 5 in the writ petition to the Post Graduate Courses, in the medical colleges of the State of Assam treating the said respondents as members of Scheduled Tribe(H). The case of the petitioners is that the 4th respondent in the writ petition, belongs to a community known as Koch Rajbangshi, which though, at one point of time, was treated as a Scheduled Tribe by a Notification dated 7.4.98 the said community was derecognized to be a Scheduled Tribe. Coming to the 5th respondent, the case of the writ petitioners is that the 5th respondent is a Garo belonging to the State of Meghalaya and, therefore, ineligible for being admitted to the Post Graduate Courses in view of the stipulation in Rule 6 (ii) of the Rules Regulating Admission to the Postgraduate Courses in the Medical Colleges, which requires a candidate to be a permanent resident of the State of Assam.

(3.) On the other hand, the respondents filed their affidavit in opposition disputing the factual allegations made by the petitioners. According to the 4th respondent, the 4th respondent does not belong to the Koch Rajbongshi community as averred by the petitioners, but he belongs to a community called Khasi, which is recognised as a Scheduled Tribe of the hills districts of Assam under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 (for the sake of convenience, hereinafter shall be referred to as "the Presidential Order"). It is further the case of the 4th respondent that his family has been residing in the Lakhimpur district of Assam for the last two generations. Insofar as the 5th respondent is concerned, her case is that she belongs to a tribe called Garo Tribe of Meghalaya and she secured admission in the MBBS course against the North Eastern Council quota and, later on, got married to a permanent resident of Sibsagar district of the State of Assam and thereby became a permanent resident of the State of Assam. Both the respondents claim the benefit of a Notification issued by the Govt of Assam, dated 24.12.82, the details of which will be given later in this judgment.