YADVINDER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) C.W.P. Nos. 12083 and 12737 of 1998 are being disposed of by this judgment. The facts have been taken from C.W.P. No. 12083 of 1998.

(2.) Vide notification dated 27.3.1998 the State of Punjab advertised the details with regard to holding of the Punjab Medical Entrance Test (hereinafter called the PMET) for the year 1998 to be conducted under the auspices of the Punjabi University Patiala respondent No. 3 for the MBBS and other Medical Course. As per this notification 150 seats each in the M.B.B.S. course were notified for admission in the Government Medical Colleges at Amritsar and Patiala and 50 seats in the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College at Faridkot. Two seats at the Medical College at Faridkot were reserved for the wards of the staff of the college under paragraph III(i)(xii) of the notification. The petitioner the ward of a Doctor then on the Medical Staff of the Medical College at Faridkot appeared in the Entrance Test under that reserved category and was declared as qualified on the declaration of the result on 12.6.1998. It appears, however, that as he apprehended that he would not obtain the requisite merit to gain admission as a ward of the Medical Staff attached to the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, he filed the present writ petition challenging the validity of this reservation. The case of the petitioner is that the aforesaid reservation was in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India being arbitrary and also contrary to the settled law on the subject.

(3.) Notice of motion was issued and a reply has been filed on behalf of the State Government. It has been pointed out that two seats in the M.B.B.S. course had been reserved for wards of the Medical Staff of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, as an incentive for the reason that adequate staff to man the faculty in the college was not forthcoming as Faridkot being a far flung backward area there was a dearth of housing, educational facilities and the other civil amenities which were available to the staff in the Medical Colleges at Patiala and Amritsar. It has further been pointed out that this reservation had been made for the first time in the year 1988 and after review in the year 1992, had been allowed to continue for the same reasons.