Dr. Sameer Bele v. Union of India & Ors.

1. The petitioner, a doctor holding an MBBS degree, has approached this Court seeking a direction to the respondent nos.[3] & 4, i.e. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (“AIIMS”) and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (“PGIMER”), respectively, to allocate the five seats reserved for „Rural Area Category‟ (hereinafter referred to as the RA) candidates, in courses offered by the respondent no.4/PGIMER, to only 2022:DHC:1839 Unreserved Category (“UR”) candidates, on the basis of their merit.

2. The petitioner, who completed his MBBS degree from RCSM Government College and Chhatrapati Pramilaraje Hospital, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, in February 2016, appeared in the Combined Entrance Test for admission to Post graduate courses for Institutes of National Importance), January, 2022 (“INI-CET January, 2022”)conducted by the respondent no.3, on 14.11.2021. As per the prospectus for the respondent no.4, besides the reservations for SC/ST/OBC category candidates, in accordance with the instructions issued by the Government of India, 5% seats were reserved for persons with benchmark disability, with another 5% being reserved for candidates who had worked, or were working, or had carried out practice in a rural area, for a minimum of two years, on or before, 31.12.2021.

3. The petitioner, who is a candidate belonging to the UR category, and has the requisite experience to qualify for the „Rural Area Category‟ (“RA”) qualified the INI-CET, January 2022 exam by obtaining an overall rank of 2843. However, when the allotment of seats for the PG seats reserved for RA candidates in the respondent no.4 were made, one candidate in the SC-RA having ranking of 3850, was allotted the seats in preference to the petitioner, who had an all India ranking of 2843.

4. Being aggrieved, the petitioner has approached this Court by way of the present petition.

5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that all the seats in the RA category were always treated as UR category seats and therefore, even if a candidate belonged to the SC/ST/OBC category, he/she, for the purpose of allocation of seat under the RA category, had to be considered under the UR-RA category. She submits that the eligibility for RA seats was dependent only on the rank of the candidate in the All India category, as clause

3.3. C of the Part-B of the prospectus for admission to PG courses for the academic year 2021-22, did not provide for any horizontal reservations for candidates belonging to the SC/ST/OBC category, as reservation for these category candidates was earmarked in

3.3. A. According to Ms. Jain, the fact that there was no horizontal reservation for RA category candidates, is evident from clause 3.3B(1) of Part B of the prospectus issued for the INI-CET January 2022 exam dealing with Persons with Benchmark Disability (“PwBD”), which specifically states that such reservations will be provided on a horizontal basis. Once, there was no specific mention of horizontal reservation in para 3.3.C, no horizontal reservation for SC/ST/OBC could be provided in the seats reserved in the RA category.

6. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents oppose the petition and submit that the selection process for filling up the vacant seats was carried out strictly in accordance with the prospectus issued for the IN-CET exam. They submit that it was clear to all the candidates that, while the reservation for the SC/ST/OBC category seats were filled on a vertical basis, the seats under the RA and PwBD were to be filled on a horizontal basis, which practice has been uniformly followed for the last many years. They submit that out of the five seats reserved for the RA category, four of the seats have been allotted to candidates who have obtained a much higher ranking than the petitioner; and the fifth vacancy has been filled up by a SC candidate, as per the vertical reservation available for this category of candidates. They therefore, contend that once the fifth seat has been allotted to a SC category candidate as per the vertical reservation for SC candidates. Merely because the petitioner has a higher ranking than the candidate cannot entitle him to claim admission against the seat filled by a SC-RA category candidate. They therefore, pray that the writ petition be dismissed.

7. Having considered the submission of learned counsel for the parties and perused the record, I do not find any merit in the same. The entire case of the petitioner is based on the premise that all these five seats reserved for RA category candidates were unreserved seats, and could not be filled up by the reserved category candidates in SC/ST/OBC. This plea of the petitioner is premised on clause 3.3C of the Part B of the prospectus, and therefore, in order to appreciate the said plea, it would be necessary to refer to the said clause, which reads as under: “5% of the sanctioned seats which is further bifurcated into six sessions (three years) in MD/MS course are reserved for those candidates who have actually worked, are working, or have carried practice in rural area for a minimum of two years on or before 30th June/31st Dec for July & Jan session respectively. Candidate applying under this category is required to furnish certificate (as per format given in Annexure IV) from the District Magistrate concerned in support of the claim. According to the orders of the Government of India, the term „rural area‟ includes “primary health center, a village, or a town with less than 5000 populations and without a Municipal area”. The certificate to be furnished by the candidates should certify that he/she served or is actually serving or has carried on private practice in a village, primary health center, or town with less than 5000 populations and without Municipal area.”\

8. From a perusal of the aforesaid clause, it is evident that the same merely mentions that 5% will be reserved for candidates who had worked, or had practiced in rural areas, for a minimum period of two years before the cut-off date. The said clause however, does not state that these 5% seats will be allocated only to candidates from the unreserved category, or that the vertical reservation mandated under the instruction of the Government of India, would not be made applicable to this category, as is sought to be contended by the petitioner. All the candidates were well aware that as per Clause 3.3A of the prospectus, in accordance with the instructions of the Government of India, there was reservation for candidates belonging to the SC/ST/OBC. This reservation is in consonance with the constitutional mandate and is a vertical reservation. It was therefore, clear that seats in the RA category, which was in the nature of horizontal reservation, were to be filled up with candidates in the appropriate category, and therefore, if a SC candidate, who fulfilled the category of RA category as well, was available, the respondent nos. 3 and 4 were justified in allotting the seat in the RA category to such a candidate.

9. Merely because there was no specific mention in the prospectus that the reservation in the RA category was in the nature of a horizontal reservation, cannot per se change the nature of said reservation. In the absence of a specific mention of the nature of reservation regarding RA category in the prospectus, the petitioner may have had a bona fide expectation and hope that being a meritorious unreserved category candidate, he was likely to be allocated a seat in the RA category on the basis of his ranking. However, the fact remains that this expectation was based on a presumption that there will be only vertical reservation for the three categories, i.e. SC/ST/OBC, which presumption, unfortunately for him, was in ignorance of the settled legal position that insofar as horizontal reservation is concerned, the same cuts across all categories of vertical reservations.

10. For the aforesaid reasons, the writ petition is dismissed with the aforesaid observations. The application being C.M. APPL. 422/2022 for interim relief is rendered infructuous and is, accordingly, disposed of.

JUDGE MAY 11, 2022 ms