JASWINDER SINGH Vs. PUNJABI UNIVERSITY, PATIALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this judgment I propose to dispose of CWP Nos. 9380 and 9513 of 1988 and CWP No. 1631 of 1989, as common questions of law and fact are involved. The facts of the case are pulled out from CWP No. 9380 of 1988.

(2.) Respondent No. 1 - Punjabi University, Patiala, issued a prospectus for the year 1988, (the relevant extract whereof has been appended as Annexure P-1 to the petitioner) inviting applications for appearing in the common competitive examination for admission to the Diploma Course in Pharmacy, for the non-Government Colleges affiliated to the University, i.e. Shivalik College, Naya Nangal and Akal Degree College, Mastuana (Sangrur), for sixth seats for each college. As per category 5 of the Reservation provided for Shivalik College, Naya Nangal, 10% seats (i.e. 6 seats) were reserved for the children of residents of Anandpur Sahib Sub-Division. In the admission criteria, following instructions were provided :-

(3.) It has been averred in the petition that the rules and the admission criteria laid down in the prospectus (Annexure P-1) specifically provided that under no circumstances the candidates would be allowed to change the reserved category opted for in the admission form even if a candidate could be found to be eligible for more than one reserved category, and respondent Nos. 4 to 7, who had not even applied for the reserved category, had been selected in preference to the petitioners. It has been asserted that in view of the fact that a candidate could not change the reserved category from one category to another, the question of allowing the General Category candidates to opt for the reserved category at the time of interview would not normally have arisen.