(1.) THE competent authority conducted examination for allocating seats in Regional Engineering Colleges located in the State and also outside the State. The dispute is with regard to the candidates who have been adjusted in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. 30 seats stand so allocated. It is not in dispute that 15 seats are meant for open category and remaining 15 seats are meant for reserved categories. It is also no.1 in dispute that the petitioner is a member of other social caste, and has obtained 115 marks. He submits that he should be given the discipline of his choice, and in doing so, the merit position should be taken note of. According to the petitioner, amongst 15 candidates meant for reserved categories, the merit of all the candidates should be taken note of and when streams or classes of disciplines are allocated, this should be done by treating the reserved category as a single unit.
(2.) THE dispute in the present petition as indicated above is that in the matter of allocating the various disciplines or the streams, the streams have been allocated to different categories of scheduled caste by making separate groups. According to the respondents, this has been done with a view to arrive at one whole unit. This procedure is not discernible from the rules. It is stated that this is the practice being followed and is being adopted. It is further stated that certain categories are supposed to be there and these categories have been described as constitutional categories namely schedule caste and schedule tribe.
(3.) THE grievance of the petitioner is that he should be allocated a stream of his choice and in doing so, the number of marks he has obtained should be recognized. The respondents submit that if this is done, then certain categories would be left out. It be seen that the respondents have not formulated any rule and regulations on this point; therefore, until the issue is settled by rules, they have to follow a procedure which is in line with the provisions of articles 14 and 16 of the constitution. This can be achieved only by allocating different streams to the 15 candidates belonging to reserved categories by giving preference of their choice and in doing so, whosoever has obtained higher marks should have preference over others. This is the only way by which articles 14 and 16 of the constitution can be complied with. Any other procedure adopted, would lead to breach of articles 14 and 16 of the constitution of India.