Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

18. Only one candidate amongst the twentyseven candidates before us, Tapan Saikia, had applied for seats reserved for candidates belonging to S.T.(P). According to the statement dated 12-5-1995 of Dr. Konwar, the last candidate in the merit list of S.T.(P) who was admitted is Gunaram Doley at Serial No: 34 of the merit list with aggregate normalised marks of 195 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and the quota of seats reserved for this category is exhausted, Tapah Saikia, the candidate before us in Civil Rule No. 3981/94 and in WA(T) 255/95 has aggregate normalised marks of 193.93 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and has been placed against Serial No. 36 of the merit list and was thus not entitled to admission under the 1992 Rules.

19. Only one of the twentyseven candidates before us, Himadri Sankar Acharya, applied for admission into seats reserved for sons, daughters, dependent brothers and sisters and sons and daughters of freedom fighters of the State. Under Rule 7(1)(e) of the 1992 Rules and as per the advertisement, only two seats have been reserved for this category but as many as five candidates, namely, Santanu Dutta at Serial No. 1 of the merit list with aggregate normalised marks of 229.29, Payalee Bodoloi at Serial No. 2 of the merit list with aggregate normalised marks of 228.21, Mousumi Saikia at Serial No. 3 of the merit list with aggregate normalised marks of 227.24 and Manoj Choudhary who has aggregate normalised marks of 201'1 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and whose name does not find place in the merit list of 1993-94, have been admitted into the 1st Year MBBS Course for the session 1993-94. On a query being put by us to Dr. Konwar, Chairman of the Selection Board, as to how when the reservation as per the 1992 Rules and the advertisement for this category of candidates was limited to two seats, five candidates from this category have been admitted, he stated by reference to the statement filed by him before us on 5-5-1995 that by letter dated 2-5-1994 which was produced before us, some seats belonging to the sessions 1991-92 and 1992-93 were reserved by the Government for the candidates of the aforesaid category and accordingly Mousumi Saikia, Vikram Sarma and Manoj Choudhury were admitted in these three additional seats out of the unutilised seats of the session 1991-92. On our further query as to how Monoj Choudhury was admitted when his name did not find place in the merit list for the session 1993-94, it was stated by the appellants that Manoj Choudhury was admitted pursuant to the direction of this Court in Civil Rule No. 3980/93 as a candidate for the session 1992-93. We called for the records of Civil Rule No. 3980/93 and we find that the case of Shri Manoj Choudhury in the said Civil Rule was that he was a candidate for admission into the 1st Year MBBS Course for the session 1992-93 but he had been denied admission and he had again applied for admission for the session 1993-94 and made a representation for admission into the MBBS Course for the session 1993-94 and the said Civil Rule was disposed of by order dated 19-1-1994 with a direction that the representation filed by the petitioner relating to admission to the MBBS Course shall be disposed of by the Special Commissioner and Secretary to the Govt. of Assam, Health and Family Welfare, within a period of fifteen days from 19-1-1994 and until disposal of the representation, the authority shall keep one seat vacant in the freedom fighters' quota in any of the Medical Colleges of Assam. It appears from the records produced by Dr. Konwar that after the aforesaid directions were issued by the Court and after the Government letter dated 2-5-1994 was issued reserving some unutilised seats of the 1991-92 and 1992-93 to be filled up from amongst candidates belonging to this category, a discussion took place on 9-5-1994 with the Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, pursuant to which the Chairman, Selection Board allowed admission of Mousmi Saikia, Vikram Sarma and Manoj Choudhury into the MBBS Course for the session 1993-94 and intimations were sent to all the aforesaid three candidates to the effect that they have been allowed provisional admission into the 1st Year MBBS/BDS Course for the sessions 1991-92 and the aforesaid three candidates were admitted. For reasons which we have indicated above, we do not think that under the 1992 Rules the unutilised seats of 1991-92 and 1992-93 could be carried over to the session 1993-94, but in case such seats were in fact carried over to the session 1993-94, we are of the opinion that the said unutilised seats for the sessions 1991-92 and 1992-93 could only be dealt with by the appellants in accordance with the 1992 Rules which had come into force with effect from 10-8-92. Under Rule 2(b) of the 1992 Rules, the Government of Assam had the power to reserve seats for any category of candidates from time to time and such reservation of additional seats for this category of candidates appears to have been done by the Government under letter dated 2-5-94 and by the decision of the secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department communicated to the Chairman of the Selection Board in the discussion which took place on 9-5-95, but under the said Rule 2(b) of the 1992 Rules reservation could be made by the Government for any category of candidates and not for any specific candidate and once such reservation is made, the candidates belonging to the said category are to be considered for admission into such additional reserved seats in accordance with merit as provided in Sub-rules (2) and (4) of Rule 4 of the 1992 Rules. This being the position, while the admissions of Mousumi Saikia and Vikram Sarma placed at serial Nos. 3 and 4 of the merit list of this reserved category were in accordance with the 1992 Rules, the admission of Monoj Choudhury whose name did not find place in the merit list at all and whose aggregate normalised marks were 201.1 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology was contrary to the 1992 Rules. The appellants cannot wriggle out of this illegality by contending that Monoj Choudhury was a candidate of the session 1992-93, because he had already been denied admission for the session 1992-93 and his representation that was pending before the authorities was for admission for the session 1993-94 and while considering his representation for admission to the session 1993-94, the claim of the other candidates in this category above him in the merit list for the session 1993-94 could not have been ignored contrary to the 1992 Rules. Thus in place of Monoj Choudhury, Himdari Sankar Acharya, the candidate before us in Civil Rule No. 3203/94 and the respondent in W. A. (T) No. 249/95 who has been placed at Serial No. 5 of the merit list of this reserved category with aggregate normalised marks of 225 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology was entitled to admission under the 1992 Rules.

20. Again out of the twentyseven candidates before us, only one candidate, Smita Singh, belongs to the category of sons, daughters, dependent brothers/sisters of ex-servicemen and defence personnel from Assam. Only 3 seats have been reserved under Rule 7(1)(d) of the 1992 Rules as well as the advertisement for this category of candidates and a merit list of 9 candidates has been prepared for this category of candidates. From the statement of Dr. Konwar filed on 12-5-95 as modified by his statement on 22-5-95, the said three reserved seats have been filled up by Satya Deb Sarma at Serial No. 1 of the merit list with aggregate normalised marks of 229.60 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Mina Rajbongshi placed at Serial No. 2 of the merit list with aggregate normalised marks of 226 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and Rekha Barua placed at SI. No. 3 of the merit list with aggregate normalised marks of 209 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. We also find from the records that an additional seat was reserved for this category out of the utilised seats of 1991-92 and 1992-93 by Government letter dated 2-5-94 and a candidate who had applied for the session 1992-93, Raktim Chetia Patra, but who was not a candidate for the session 1993-94 was admitted into the said additional seat pursuant to letter dated 7-5-94 of the Director of Medical Education, Assam. For reasons which we have indicated earlier, we are of the view that while the candidates for 1992-93 may be considered for admission for the seats of 1992-93 the candidates for 1993-94 cannot have any claim to such seats unless the authorities decide to fill up the seat by candidates of 1993-94 session. There was thus no illegality in admitting Raktim Chetia Patra who was a candidate for the session 1991-92 and not a candidate for the session 1993-94 into the said seat of the session 1992-93. Smita Singh the candidate before us in Civil Rule No. 3842/94 and W. A. (T) 254/95 being a candidate for the session 1993-94 and having been placed at SI. No. 9 of the merit list for this reserved category with aggregate normalised marks of 203 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology was not entitled to admission either to the 3 reserved seats for the session 1993-94 or to the additional reserved seat of the year 1992-93.

23. There are, however, other cases in which similar orders have been passed by the Government invoking Rule 10 of the 1992 Rules allowing admission of candidates. Along with the supplementary affidavit of Dr. Konwar filed on 10-4-95, a copy of the notification dated 16th February, 1994 has been filed which shows that Mayurpankhi Saikia, daughter of Sri Tankeshwar Saikia who was a close relation of late Rohiteshwar Saikia, a victim of extremist violence, has been admitted into the first year MBBS Course by orders of the State Government under Rule 10. From the records produced before us by the appellants we find that Mayurpankhi Saikia had aggregate normalised marks of 210 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, but her claim to a seat reserved for sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of persons killed by the extremist violence in Assam was however rejected and she filed an appeal before the appellate authority which was also rejected. Similarly, another candidate Madhurjya Saikia whose brother had been killed in army operation and who had aggregate normalised marks of 187.50 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology applied for admission into the seats reserved for sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of persons killed in the extremist violence in Assam, but her claim to the said reserved seat was rejected. The cases of both these candidates were considered by the Government and Rule 10 was invoked by the Government allowing admission to both these candidates in the quota of seats reserved for sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of persons killed in the extremist violence in the State of Assam. In our opinion, both Mayurpankhi Saikia and Madhurjya Saikia were not eligible for admission into the seats reserved for the sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of the persons killed in extremist violence in Assam Movement as they did not belong to any of the aforesaid classes of persons and when there were other candidates who had applied for admission into the seats reserved for this category, the Government could not deprive such candidates who truely belonged to this category of admission and accommodate these two candidates who did not belong to the reserved category by passing orders of relaxation. Hence, the orders of relaxation in their favour passed by the State Government were arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Since their aggregate marks in Physics, Chemistry and Biology after normalisation were much below the cut-off marks for admission into the general seats, they were not entitled to admission into the first year MBBS Course for the session 1993-94 under the 1992 Rules. The total number of seats reserved under Rule 7(i)(1) of the 1992 Rules for sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of persons killed in the extremist violence in Assam Movement was only 2. Anil Kumar Agarwal with normalised aggregate marks of 212 in Physics, Chemistry and Biology placed at serial No. 1 of the merit list of this category has been admitted into the first year MBBS Course for the session 1993-94. Mayurpankhi Saikia and Madhurjya Saikia were placed at serial Nos. 2 and 3 in this merit list. Thus in their place, one more candidate placed at serial No. 4 in the merit list of the aforesaid reserved category was entitled to admission into the 1st year MBBS Course for the session 1993-94 if he truely belonged to the said reserved category. But no candidate belonging to the general category was entitled to admission into the said reserved seat.