ABHAY KUMAR JAYASWAL Vs. PRINCIPAL DARBHANGA MEDICAL COLLEGE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petitioner applied for admission to the M.B.B.S. course at Darbhanga Medical College. In the printed form of application for admission he was required to mention not only his father's name and his father's profession but also his father's annual income, (see column 3(c).) In the printed instructions issued along with the application form, all applicants were directed to enclose several certificates along with their applications. They have been described in paragraph 3 of the petition. One of such certificates is the income certificate of the father. This portion of the instruction may be quoted in full.

(2.) It is stated that 35 seats in the Dar-bhanga Medical College have been reserved for backward classes. The petitioner claims to be a member of the backward class, being a Kalwar A certificate of the Sub-divisional Officer, Monghyr (Annexure B) has also been filed in support of this claim.

(3.) The contention of Mr. Basudeva Prasad for the petitioner is twofold. Firstly, he urged that the requirement of the income certificate of the father was applicable only where the applicant is either a minor under the guardianship of his father or else where the applicant and his father are members of a Hindu joint family with the father as Karta. Accordingly to him. where there is separation between the father and son, and the son Is a maior. the production of the income certificate of the father should not have been insisted upon and the income of the applicant alone should have been considered. Secondly, he urged that the giving of preference for admission to the reserved seats only to those applicants of the backward classes whose fathers' income is below Rs. 3000/- per annum is violative of Article 15(1) of the Constitution, and that it was not saved by Clause (4) of that Article.