CHETNA SHARMA Vs. UNION TERRITORY CHANDIGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition (C.W.P. No. 11995 of 1991) along with three other C.W.P. Nos. 12052, 10758 and 12072 of 1991, was admitted by the Motion Bench direct to the Full Bench to reconcile the conflict, if any, between a single Bench decision overruled later by the Division Bench of this Court on the one hand, and the subsequent Single Bench decision taking ostensibly somewhat different view, without noticing the aforesaid Division Bench judgment but upheld by the Honble Supreme Court, on the other. However, on closer scrutiny, we have come to the conclusion that the law laid down by the Division Bench of this Court still holds the field, and the Single Bench judgment as upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, does not come into conflict with the Division Bench judgment at all, as it had decided the matter in hand on a very limited and wholly different question. Since common questions of law and fact are involved in these petitions, they are being disposed of by one and the same judgment. However, in order to appreciate the issues involved, facts have been taken from C.W.P. No. 11995 of 1991.

(2.) Union Territory, Chandigarh Administration, respondent No. 1, runs an Engineering College in the Union Territory, namely, the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. It is, in fact, a successor Institution of the Punjab College of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (formerly known as Maclagan Engineering College of the pre-partitioned Punjab, which remained in Pakistan as a result of partition of the country in 1947). The College is affiliated to the Punjab University, Chandigarh. According to the Prospectus of the College for the Session 1991-92, the total number of seats for the Bachelor of Engineering Course are 310, five per cent of which, that is, 16 seats, are allocated for sportsmen/sportswomen. These 16 seats have further been distributed categorywise as under:- Sr. No. Category Aero Civil Electronic Elect- Met. Prod. Total 7. Suportsmen / Women 1 3 1 3 3 5 16 Though admission to the Bachelor of Engineering Course is made by the College on the basis of Common Entrance Test conducted by the Punjab University, Chandigarh, yet the Chandigarh Administration and the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, have issued separate guidelines for admission against the five per cent seats reserved for sportsmen/sportswomen based on the achievement of the candidates in the field of sports. In order to achieve this object and to eliminate the element of arbitrariness and discrimination in the matter of assessing the respective merits of the candidates, grading for sportsmen on the basis of their performance at the International, National, State, University or District level, various positions achieved by the sportsmen have been categorised. The guidelines, as provided in the Prospectus of the College, read as under :- GUIDELINES FOR ADMISSION IN THE RESERVED CATEGORY OF 5 PER CENT SEATS BASED ON ACHIEVEMENT IN SPORTS. Five per cent of the total number of seats in each course are reserved under this category. No weightage on the basis of sports shall be given to candidates not applying for admission in this category.

(3.) Students seeking admission under this category will be considered for admission out of this reserve quota on the basis of achievement only in the games and disciplines which have been included in the prospectus and only if these achievements relate to their activity in any of the three years preceding the year of admission. x x x