THE CENRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION GUARDIANS COMMITTEE REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY SRI NALINI KUMAR SAHA Vs. THE STATE OF TRIPURA & ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India challenges the 'normalisation' policy in selection of candidates for admission to various professional courses in the reserved seats for Tripura, and also seeks a direction to the respondents to select candidates for said courses strictly on the basis of marks obtained at the qualifying examinations and treat the students of the Central Board of Secondary Education hereafter the Central Board at par with the students of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education hereafter the Tripura Board and other Boards.

(2.) Briefly, the facts are that the Government has reserved seats in different professional courses for students from Tripura. According to the petitioner, the seats are reserved by the Government of India, whereas the respondents say that some seats in addition have been obtained by the Government of Tripura. The selection is made by the Government of Tripura. The qualifying examination is the Higher Secondary Examination, i.e. 10+2 conducted by the Central Board of the Tripura Board or any other similar Board. The petitioner is an association of Guardians of the students for the 10 +2 examination of the Central Board, described as the "Central Board of Secondary Education Guardians Committee".

(3.) Until the year 1986 for the academic session 1986-87 the selection of candidates for nomination by the Government of Tripura for admission to said professional courses, was made on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates at the qualifying 10+2 examination. In the year 1987, for the academic year 1987-88, the Government of Tripura adopted a policy known as "Normalisation Policy" for the said selection of candidates. The petitioner's grievance is that this policy is in violative of right to equality and is bad in law. The petitioner, therefore, has prayed that the earlier system of selection purely on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates at the qualifying examination should be restored.