JUDGMENT
S.K. Gupta, J.
1. The petitioner has approached the Court for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to select and admit her into Five Years Integrated Law Course under the reserved category meant for the candidates having excelled in the field of Cultural, Literary and NSS activities, in invoking the provisions of Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 103 of the Constitution of J&K.
2. According to the averments made in the petition, the petitioner has been declared successful in Class 12 from the J&K Board of School Education having secured 49% marks. The petitioner has outstanding record of cultural and literary activities, being an active member of Bharat Scouts and Guides Organization. She is recipient of various awards and certificates including the one from His Excellency, The President of India and His Excellency, The Governor of Jammu & Kashmir. The petitioner further claims to have accomplished many achievements to her credit in the field of cultural and literary activities. Petitioner applied under the Reserved Category of Cultural/Literary activities for admission to Five Years Integrated Law Course in the University of Jammu, and sought consideration for admission in the said category. Further case of the petitioner is that the respondent-University did not accord consideration to her under the reserved category and refused selection/admission despite availability of two vacant seats: The petitioner is aggrieved of the action of respondent-University in ignoring her achievements in the field of cultural and literary activities and denying admission to her to Five Years Integrated Law Course in an arbitrary and unjust manner and in violation of her fundamental right under Article 14 of the Constitution of India, which became the subject matter of challenge in this writ petition.
3. The respondents, in their detailed reply, submitted that the petitioner appeared in the entrance test on 28.9.2003 under the reserved category of Cultural and Literary Activities/NSS and secured 48% marks. It is further stated that the merit is to be determined according to the performance of the candidate in the entrance test and the relevant score in the respective categories under the statutes governing the admission to Five Years Integrated Law Course. Further plea of the respondents is that the achievements of petitioner and the certificates produced, being Rashtrapati Guide, after according consideration for admission, were found to be not included or recognized either in Cultural or literary Activities or in NSS Category. The case of the petitioner, however, was rejected by the Admission Committee on the ground that it is neither covered under the statutes nor SRO 126 for grant of admission to Five Years Integrated Law Course. The respondents further submitted that the eligibility of a candidate is to be determined strictly in accordance with the statutes.
4. Petition is admitted to be heard. Mr. D. S. Thakur, learned counsel appearing for respondents, submits that the objections already filed be treated as counter. With the consensus of learned counsel appearing for the respective parties, the petition was taken up for final disposal.
5. Heard arguments and also perused the record meticulously pertaining to selection/admission under the reserved category of Cultural and Literary Activities/NSS Category, produced by Mr. D. S. Thakur.
6. The perusal of the record became imperative so as to know the persons who have been, selected under Clause 14 (ii)(b) under the caption Cultural & Literally Activities for which 2% reservation has been made in the Information Brochure. The record shows that two candidates, namely, Suninderjeet Kour and Paramjit Singh, as shown in the reserved category list, were found eligible to be considered in the Category of Cultural/Literary Activities. It is further revealed from the record that Suninderjeet Kour though was selected under the reserved category, but her name also figured in the open merit list dated 24.10.2003. The seat under the Cultural & Literary Activities quota remained vacant for the session 2003-04. The record produced by Mr. Thakur does not show as to how certificates under Cultural & Literary Activities Category of the petitioner have been evaluated qua others.
7. Mr. A. V. Gupta, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner, vehemently urged that the certificates/testimonial relied upon by the petitioner for seeking consideration for admission under the Reserved Category consisted of:
(i) Certificate of being prestigious Rashtrapati Guide.
(ii) Certificate of being prestigious Rajya Puraskar.
(iii) Commendation Certificate (Republic Day Celebrations January, 2002).
(iv) Certificate of Honour issued by the J&K State Bharat Scouts & Guides.
(v) Certificates of Honour having successfully completed the prescribed test to the field of Social Services (General Knowledge Test), issued thrice by the United Schools Organization of India, i.e., in the years 1994, 1996 and 1997.
(vi) Certificate of participation in the States Level Children’s Science Congress, 1999, awarded by J&K State Council for Science & Technology; and
(vii) Certificates of Participation in various curricular activities.
8. Whereas, the certificates/testimonial annexed with her application by Suninderjeet Kour consisted of:
(i) Tagore Study Forum with regard to her participation in National Level Quiz Preliminary.
(ii) Participated in District Level Exhibition organized by District Institute of Education & Training.
(iii) Tagore Study Forum with regard to her participation in National Level essay writing.
(iv) Participation in the Symposium (World Tobacco Day).
(v) Tagore Study Forum with regard to her participation in Quiz Jammu Level.
(vi) Participation in Gurmeet Kirtan Competition.
9. The respondent-University after considering the said certificates selected said Suninderjeet Kour for admission to Five Years Integrated Law Course under the Cultural and Literary Activities quota. Mr. D. S. Thakur, learned counsel appearing for the respondent when was taken through the record produced by him, fairly admitted that the record does not show as to how the certificates of both the candidates were evaluated under the Cultural and Literary Activities quota in which the application of petitioner was rejected and that of Suniderjeet Kour was accepted.
10. It is not disputed that Suniderjeet Kour got admission as per her merit in the open merit category and the seat under Cultural & Literary Activities Quota remained vacant. Mr. D. S. Thakur further could not convince the Court as to when the form of Suniderjeet Kour under reserved category was accepted for admission to Five Years Integrated Law Course and how the application of petitioner could be rejected in view of the testimonials /Certificates annexed by her with her application, without evaluation by the Committee in terms of norms laid down by the University. The record further does not reveal as to what weighed with the Committee to determine and recommend the name of Suniderjeet Kour to be eligible for selection/admission under the reserved category and the petitioner, namely, Naveed Anjum ineligible in the said category, particularly when on comparison of certificates, both of petitioner and said Suniderjeet Kour pertaining to Cultural & Literary Activities/NSS, the Same tilt in favour of petitioner. For all what has been stated and discussed above, and in the facts and circumstances of this case, in my view, it is clearly a case of hostile discrimination to the petitioner having been denied consideration under the reserved category for selection/admission to Five Years Integrated Law Course, in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
11. In view of the above, this petition is allowed and the respondents are directed to admit the petitioner to Five Years Integrated Law Course in the University of Jammu.
12. Before I part with this case, I am constrained to quote that there appears a sordid state of affairs as to how the University is playing with the career of students and according consideration without proper evaluation of their testimonials/certificates to determine their eligibility under the reserved category. It is expected and hoped that this would be an eye opener for the respondent-University; to exhibit the needed responsibility and sensibility in undergoing the exercise for determining the eligibility of the students, under the reserved category, before taking a decision in this behalf in future.
13. The record produced by Mr. D. S. Thakur shall be returned to him forthwith against proper receipt