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PETITIONER: MEENAKSHI MALIK

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: UNIVERSITY OF DELHI & ORS.

DATE OF JUDGMENT01/05/1989

BENCH: PATHAK, R.S. (CJ) BENCH: PATHAK, R.S. (CJ) MISRA RANGNATH DUTT, M.M. (J)

CITATION:  1989 AIR 1568            1989 SCR  (2) 858  1989 SCC  (3) 112        JT 1989  Supl.    162  1989 SCALE  (1)1153

ACT:     Constitution of India: Article 32--Universities--Medical colleges-Admission--Local     candidates--Reservation of seats----Condition----Last  two  years  of  education  in  a school  in Delhi--Whether unreasonable and in-applicable  to students  leaving  India with their parents  on  the  parent being deputed to a foreign country. Administrative Law: Rules--Reasonableness--Necessity of.

HEADNOTE:     The  petitioner  was born and studied upto class  IX  in Delhi. In 1982 she left for Nigeria, along with her parents, where  her father went on deputation. There she  passed  the General  Certificate of Education Ordinary Level,  conducted by University of London, which was recognised by the Central Board  of  Secondary Education, New Delhi as  equivalent  to Class  XI  in India. She returned to India  along  with  her family in 1984.     After  passing the All India Senior  School  Certificate Examination  in 1985, she appeared for entrance  examination for admission to one of the three Medical Colleges in  Delhi and  passed the test. But she was denied  admission  because she  had not satisfied the further condition that  the  last two  years of education should be had in a school in  Delhi. Aggrieved by the denial of admission, the petitioner filed a writ  petition in this Court. By an order dated  31st  July, 1987  this Court allowed the Writ Petition and directed  the respondents  to admit her in one of the three Delhi  Medical Colleges  in  the  first  year  course  prescribed  for  the M.B.B.S. Degree. Giving reasons for the said order, this Court,     HELD: 1. Rules are intended to be reasonable, and should take  into  account the variety of  circumstances  in  which those whom the rules seek to govern find themselves. [861C] 2.  The qualifying condition that a candidate appearing  for the 859 entrance  examination for admission to a Medical College  in Delhi  should have received the last two years of  education in  a  school in Delhi is unreasonable when applied  in  the

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case  of those candidates who were compelled to leave  India for a foreign country by reason of the posting of the parent by the Government to such foreign country. There is no  real choice  in the matter for such a student, and in many  cases the  circumstances of the student do not permit her to  con- tinue schooling in India. Theoretically it is possible for a student to be put into a hostel to continue her schooling in Delhi  but  in many cases this may not be feasible  and  the student  must accompany the parent to the  foreign  country. [860H, 861A]     3. The rigour of the condition prescribing that the last two  years of education should be, received in a  school  in Delhi  should be relaxed, and there should be no  insistence on the fulfilment of that condition, in the case of students of  parents who are transferred to a foreign country by  the Government  and  who are therefore required to  leave  India along  with them. Therefore, the denial of admission to  the petitioner to a seat in one of the Medical Colleges in Delhi was unreasonable. [861B, 861E]

JUDGMENT: ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1050 of 1986. (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India).     A.C.  Gulati, S.K. Goel, S.K. Bansal and L.C. Goyal  for the Petitioner.     T.S.K.  Iyer, Mariarputham, Ms. A. Mathut, M.  Veerappa, Pramod  Swarup,  K. Ramkumar, R. Bana, A.  Subba  Rao,  S.K. Bhattacharya,  Ms  Urmila Kapoor and Ms. Janki for  the  Re- spondents. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by     PATHAK,  CJ.  On  31 July, 1987, we  allowed  this  writ petition and directed the respondents to admit the petition- er,  Meenakshi  Malik,  in one of the  three  Delhi  Medical Colleges  in  the  first  year  course  prescribed  for  the M.B.B.S.  Degree.  We said that the reasons  would  be  pro- nounced later. We proceed to do so now.     The  petitioner was born in Delhi on 8 September,  1967. Her  father, Shri O.P. Malik, was employed in  the  National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri  Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 860 and  her mother, Smt. Kanta Devi Malik was employed  in  the Government  Girls  Senior Secondary  School,  Mehrauli,  New Delhi.  The  petitioner attended the Junior  Public  School, Shakti Nagar, upto Class II and the Cambridge School,  Siri- niwaspuri, New Delhi, upto Class IX until 19 January,  1982. The petitioner’s father was placed on deputation in  January 1982 with the Government of Nigeria to serve in its Ministry of  Education through the Ministry of Home Affairs,  Depart- ment of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Government  of India,  New  Delhi. The petitioner, who was a minor  at  the time,  had  to accompany her parents along  with  her  minor brother. In Nigeria, the petitioner continued her  education as  an overseas candidate and appeared for  the  examination conducted  by the University of London in Kanduna,  Nigeria, and she passed the General Certificate of Education Ordinary level  (GCE--’O’ level) which is recognised by  the  Central Board  of Secondary Education, New Delhi, as  equivalent  to Class XI in India.     On  completing the period of his deputation on 8  April, 1984  the  petitioner’s father returned to  India  with  his family.  The  petitioner was admitted to Class  XII  in  the

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Delhi  Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi.  The  Central Board of Secondary Education permitted her admission to that Class.  The  petitioner  appeared in the  All  India  Senior School  Certificate  Examination conducted  by  the  Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi, in March, 1985  and passed  the  examination. The petitioner then  sat  for  the Entrance  Examination  for  admission to one  of  the  three Medical  Colleges in Delhi, and she obtained 750 marks.  The candidates who obtained an equal number of the marks or even less  were granted admission, but the petitioner was  denied admission. She fell for consideration in the quota of seven- ty  per  cent of the seats reserved for candidates  who  had passed  the  qualifying examination from the  University  of Delhi  or  the Central Board of Secondary Education  or  the Council  for the Indian School Certificate Examination  from recognised  schools conducting regular classes in the  Union Territory of Delhi. But she was denied admission because she had  not satisfied the further condition that the  last  two years  of  education  should be had in a  school  in  Delhi. Aggrieved  by the denial of admission, the petitioner  filed the present writ petition.     It  seems  to us that the qualifying  condition  that  a candidate appearing for the Entrance Examination for  admis- sion to a Medical College in Delhi should have received  the last  two years of education in a school in Delhi is  unrea- sonable  when  applied in the case of those  candidates  who were compelled to leave India for a foreign country by 861 reason  of  the posting of the parent by the  Government  to such foreign country. There is no real choice in the  matter for  such a student, and in many cases the circumstances  of the  student  do  not permit her to  continue  schooling  in India.  It is, of course, theoretically possible for a  stu- dent  to be put into a hostel to continue her  schooling  in Delhi.  But in many cases this may not be feasible  and  the student  must accompany a parent to the foreign country.  It appears  to us that the rigour of the condition  prescribing that the last two years of education should be received in a school  in Delhi should be relaxed, and there should  be  no insistence on the fulfilment of that condition, in the  case of  students  of parents who are transferred  to  a  foreign country by the Government and who are therefore required  to leave  India along with them. Rules are intended to be  rea- sonable, and should take into account the variety of circum- stances  in which those whom the rules seek to  govern  find themselves.  We  are of opinion that the  condition  in  the prescription  of qualifications for admission to  a  medical college in Delhi providing that the last two years of educa- tion  should be in a school in Delhi should be construed  as not  applicable  to students who have to  leave  India  with their parents on the parent being posted to a foreign  coun- try by the Government.     Accordingly,  the denial of admission to the  petitioner to  a seat in one of the Medical Colleges in Delhi  must  be held  to  be unreasonable. It is not disputed  that  if  the condition of schooling for the last two years in a school in Delhi  is  removed  from the way, the  petitioner  would  be entitled to admission in a Medical College in Delhi. In  the circumstances,  the petitioner is entitled to an  order  di- recting  the respondents to admit her to one of the  Medical Colleges in Delhi. T.N.A.                               Petition Allowed. 862

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