N K BATRA Vs. KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition preferred by 67 petitioners, challenge has been made to the newly introduced phenomenon of 'Normalisation' as the basis of selection for admission to 4 year Undergraduate Engineering Degree Courses at all the Regional Engineering Colleges in the State of Haryana and the Chhotu Ram State College of Engineering, Murthal (Haryana).

(2.) Most of the petitioners herein are minors and have approached this Court through their parents or guardians. The petitioners are residents of the State of Haryana and are students in various schools in the State of Haryana. They had appeared in the examination of the 12th class of the 10 + 2 system in the All India Senior School Certificate Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi (for short, referred to as 'the Central Board'), since their schools were affiliated to that Board. Another system which is akin to the Central Board system is afloat in the State of Haryana through other schools. Students thereof appear in the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination conducted by the Haryana School Education Board (for short, referred to as 'the Haryana Board'), as their schools are affiliated to that Board. Both the Central Board and the Haryana Board have adopted the same syllabi and the same pattern of examination. Students clearing these two examinations from the schools situated within the State of Haryana are eligible to apply for the course known as B.Tech. These examinations are considered equivalent for the purposes of admission to the Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra, respondent No.3, affiliated to the Kurukshetra University, respondent No.1, and Chhotu Ram State College of Engineering, Murthal, respondent No. 4 affiliated to the Maharshi Dayanand University, respondent No. 2.

(3.) According to the petitioners, there are a total number of 310 seats for the B.Tech. Courses in the Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra, out of which 155 (one-half) are kept for the students of Haryana and the other 155 are thrown open to the students from the entire country. Similarly, in Chhotu Ram State College of Engineering, Murthal, there are 150 seats kept for the students of Haryana. In addition to these 305 seats, 58 other seats are allocated to the students of Haryana in the other Regional Engineering Colleges in the other parts of the country. In this manner there are 363 seats for the students of Haryana. Uptill the year 1989 these seats were filled on the basis of merit determined from the qualifying marks obtained by the candidates in the Central Board and Haryana Board examinations on the basis of equivalency. With effect from the current academic session 1989-90 the two colleges, afore-referred to, made a decision to follow a system of normalisation of marks obtained by the candidates of the two Boards. The petitioners assert that the Board of Governors of the M.D. University, Rohtak, in their meeting held on November 4, 1988, decided to follow the system of normalisation of marks. But this fact appeared in the press in April, 1989 only, both in the Hindi as also English Sections though it was somewhat discrepant. The petitioners further assert that the Government of India, on the other hand, vide advertisement Annexure- P-3 dated March 15, 1989, had given out that the admission procedure as before would continue for the Session 1989-90 in the Regional Engineering Colleges. In May, 1989 came out the Admission Brochure for joint admission in both the Colleges in which by means of Cl.7 the basis of selection was laid, adopting the concept known as 'Normalisation'. It would be worthwhile to reproduce at this stage Clause 7 :