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9. AWES, it is stated, is a charitable trust that has been set up to cater to the educational needs of wards of Army personnel, both current and former, and widows of Army personnel. It is stated that the operation of its educational institutions is funded purely from regimental funds, which have been recognized to be private funds and not that of the Indian Army. AWES was given on lease, an extent of a little over 25 acres of land in the NCT of Delhi under the control and possession of Ministry of Defence in order to enable it to start ACMS, and meet the regulatory requirement regarding extent of land that a private medical college ought to have for its college campus. In addition, ACMS has also been provided the facility of using the Army Hospital in NCT of Delhi, both for its scholars to fulfill the necessary clinical training at such an hospital, and also to fulfill the regulatory requirement that a medical college possess access to a general hospital of sufficient number of beds as assurance of availability of facilities to meet the curricular requirements.

18. In this regard, the defence of ACMS, and its parent society, AWES, in the High Court has been that the exemptions granted to it by the 3 (2002) 8 SCC 481 4 (2005) 6 SCC 537  Government of Delhi were lawful, and hence they were well within the law in admitting students only from the wards of army personnel as identified by its admission policy. Further ACMS, and AWES, also claim that in any event the ratio of TMA Pai, as further explained by P.A. Inamdar, is that, contrary to what the writ petitioners were claiming, they have an unfettered right, under Article 19(1)(g), to choose its own pre-defined "source" of students. Further, ACMS and AWES claim that in as much as such a choice is not a "reservation" per se, but only choice of "source" as rightly recognized by TMA Pai (supra), and P.A. Inamdar (supra), and further because such a source is only being delineated on the basis of occupation and not on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth or any of them, and inter-se ranking within the "source" is based on qualifying marks in the common entrance test, and the admission policy is otherwise transparent, fair and non-exploitative the admission policy of ACMS ought to be upheld. In addition, it is also submitted that in as much as wards of army personnel suffer educational disadvantages, in comparison with the civilian population, and this affects the morale of army personnel, it would be in the national interest to allow ACMS and AWES to effectuate such admissions. Further, it is also claimed that such a right has been recognized previously by the courts in India. Further, with respect to it being an unaided educational institution, it was argued that ACMS is run purely out of regimental funds that have been held to be private funds, and  not belonging to the Indian Army. Moreover, it is also claimed that the lease granted to it by the Army and the Ministry of Defense, in whose possession the public land, was for an initial period of thirty years, extendable to ninety nine years, to which effect the Ministry of Defense has "in principle" agreed to. Moreover, the access to Base Hospital of the Army in NCT of Delhi was only for a temporary period, and that an exclusive hospital for ACMS would soon be built. To this extent it was submitted that ACMS is not an "aided institution" under Delhi Act 80 of 2007 as its day to day funds are met through fees and regimental funds. Further, it was also submitted that MCI has accepted the temporary arrangements with respect to hospital facilities, and has granted a conditional permission, which could be revoked if ACMS fails to meet the requirement of having its own hospital as required by regulations.

(i) that a little over 25 acres extent of expensive land has been given on lease by Ministry of Defence, Union of India, in the Cantonment of Delhi;

access has been provided to the Base Hospital; and further that affairs of AWES and of ACMS are substantially and wholly managed by regular officers of the Indian Army and headed by the Chief of Army Staff; and (ii) that regulations of Medical Council of India ("MCI") do not permit grant of permission for setting up of medical colleges unless the Society setting up such a college owns such land and has its own hospital of requisite number of beds, and further that the permission was granted by MCI on the ground  that ACMS was in fact a governmental entity. It was contended that in such an event, the admissions to ACMS ought to be on the same principles followed by the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. It is also contended that even if ACMS be deemed to not be an instrumentality of the State, it could not be construed as an unaided institution, on account of the massive aid by Ministry of Defence, merely because its day to day expenses are taken care of by fees from students and regimental funds. The implication pressed by Dr. Hingorani was that, in such a case Delhi Act 80 of 2007 would not be applicable at all, as it is intended to be applicable to unaided private professional institutions, and furthermore the exemptions granted by the Government of Delhi from the operation of Delhi Act 80 of 2007, and relied on by ACMS and AWES, in making the admissions in the manner it has would also not be applicable. The applicable law, consequently, would be Ordinance 30 of GGSIU, which provides that an upper limit on reservations to be 5% for wards of defense personnel.

25. Learned Senior Counsel, Mr. K.K. Venugopal, and Mr. Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the Respondents, dispute the contentions of the Appellants that ACMS is an instrumentality of the State, and also further dispute that ACMS is an aided institution. Pointing to the fact that AWES is a charitable trust, set up purely with the object of promoting the welfare of wards of Army personnel, and the fact that only regimental funds are used in day to day affairs of ACMS, it was contended that AWES and ACMS ought not to be treated as an instrumentality of the State. It was also further contended  that in both the decisions of the High Courts, by the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench, ACMS has been found to be an unaided educational institution, per the definition of such institutions in Delhi Act 80 of 2007, and hence ought not to be disturbed. Further, it was also submitted that ACMS conducted its admissions on the basis of exemptions granted by Government of Delhi, and as such meet the statutory requirements also.