Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

The Kerala State, notwithstanding its striking demographic, cultural, linguistic and political integrality and educational advance, has certain historical hangovers of academic disparity and developmental maldistribution which have survived for two decades as this case testifies. We are not concerned with the etiological enquiry into this malady but recognise it as a reality since the authentic materials from Commission reports and prior rulings of the High Court concurrently so establish. Broadly speaking, this `composite' State may be dichotomised as Travancore-Cochin and Malabar regions woven into one fabric by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. Gaping disparities of development cannot be wished away by political fusion into one State and determined efforts at equalisation of human conditions, economic and cultural, alone lend living validity to geo- political homogeneity. Malabar being admittedly laggard in the educational field, the State endeavoured to wipe out this weakness by starting or supporting new colleges in this neglected segment; and one such institution was the medical college at Calicut. Indeed, the drive to upgrade the educational status of this backward region persuaded the State to set up the Calicut University to which were affiliated all the colleges in that Cindrella area, including the Calicut Medical College. An adjoining district, Trichur, was also tacked on, for convenience, maybe.

This operated as a cut back on the total 'Calicut' seats as wholly available for the Calicut University students and, indeed, as urged by counsel for the respondent, subtly subverted the criterion of 'Malabar' backwardness.

The Calicut Medical College and the Calicut University were created as the purpose-oriented mechanisms for progressive elimination of educational backwardness in that territory. This objective would be fulfilled if the entire number of seats of the Calicut Medical College were exclusively made the entitlement for eligible students from colleges affiliated to that University. A further slice knifed out of the cake would spell reversal of policy.

Once this premise is reached the calculus is non- controversial.

The three medical colleges affiliated to the Kerala University have a total strength of 345 students and the only college affilated to the Calicut University has a student strength of 180. On these basic figures, the arithmatic worked out on the principles of deduction is beyond controversy. 42 students form the reserved quota and have to be apportioned between the two universities in the ratio of their student strength. Making available of seats for candidates from other universities is also common ground. Both sides agree that the net number of seats available to be filled up, if we proceed solely on the principle of university-wise allocation, will be 166 for the Calicut University students and 317 for the Kerala University students. The admissions, even on these agreed figures, will be subject to the die-hard rule of Communal reservation. The further division of seats in the ratio of 60: 40 as between the graduates and pre-degree candidates also has to be maintined. No question of complicating the numbers by any further injection of the population ratio between Malabar and Travancore-Cochin arises because the new formula takes care of the backwardness of Malabar and there cannot be double benefits.

Decoding the rules in simplex form, what we get in arithmatical terms is that the Calicut University students who have now been alloted under the Government formula 136 seats will be eintitled to an extra 30 seats.

If we rigidly direct that these additional seats be assigned to the students emerging from the colleges under the Calicut University an equal number may have to be expelled from the students already admitted from out of the Kerala University quota. This consequence becomes ccmpulsive since the total strength sanctioned for the four medical colleges fixed by the two Universities and approved by the Medical Council of India is 525 seats.