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TMI Blog1995 (7) TMI 446X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... duled Caste 21% 5. Scheduled Tribe 2% 6. Real dependents of freedom fighters 5% 7. Son/daughter of soldier died in war/handicapped solders 2% 8. For Handicapped Candidates 2% 65% A further reservation in favour of women was also provided to the extent of thirty percent in each of the above categories. The reservations so provided were challenged by way of a writ petition in this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution - Civil Writ Petition No. 777 of 1994 (Swati Gupta v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors.). The contention of the petitioner was that reservation of sixty five percent of seats was contrary to the decision of this Court in Indra Sawhney and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. and, therefore, void. Pending the said writ petition, the Government issued a notification on December 17, 1994 modifying the reservation policy contained in the notification of May 17, 1994. It would be appropriate to set out the notification dated December 17, 1994 in its entirety: No. 6550/Sec-14/V-111/93 Lucknow dated 17.12.94 From: Ravindra Kumar Sharma, Sachiv, Uttar Pradesh Shasan To: Director General, Medical Education, Training, U.P.Lucknow Medical Section-14 Sub: Reservation in seats of M.B. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... basis of merit prior to filling of reserve seats mentioned in para 3 above. Please ensure strict compliance of these orders. Yours faithfully, sd/- Ravindra Kumar Sharma Sachiv 3. This revised notification was brought to the notice of this Court at the hearing of the aforesaid writ petition. After noticing both the aforesaid notifications this Court (the Bench comprising R.M. Sahai J. and one of us, Suhas C.Sen J.) observed as follows: 2. Reservation of 65% resulting in reducing the general category of 35% was undoubtedly violative of Article 16. Further by reserving 30% of the general seats for ladies the general category shrank to 5%. But these glaring infirmities have been rectified by the amended circular. Reservation of 30% for ladies has now been confined to para 3 of the amended circular. Dr. Dhavan, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the State clarified that he has instructions to make a statement on the amended circular that now there is no reservation for ladies in the general category. 3. Similarly, the other defect in the circular reserving 35% seats for general category has been removed. The vertical reservation is now 50% for general category and 50% for d Castes, d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns/daughters of soldiers/deceased/ disabled in war - 2%, (3) physically handicapped - 2%, (4) candidates of hill area -3%, and (5) candidates of Uttarakhand area - 3% (hereinafter referred to as in this judgment as Special Categories' ) shall be horizontal reservations and not vertical reservations. The corrigendum stated: ...following Horizontal reservation has been provided on the total seats of all the courses of every Medical College to be filled on the basis of Combined Pre-Medical Test, 1994: 1) Actual dependents of freedom fighters 5% 2)Sons/daughters of Soldiers/deceased/disabled inwar 2% 3) Physically handicapped 2% 4) Candidates of Hill Area 3% 5) Candidates of Uttarakhand Area 3% 2. The above reservation will be horizontal and the candidates of above categories, selected on the basis of merit, would be kept under the categories of Caste/ Tribe/Other Backward Class/General to which they belong. 3. It is also informed that on total number of seats of every course in every Medical College through C.P.M.T. 1994. The following vertical reservations have been provided: 4. It is also clarified that if any candidate belonging to Caste/ Tribe/Other Backward Class categories i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reservations in favour of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the d Castes and d Tribes within the meaning of Article 15(4) of the Constitution. It has been held by this Court in State of Uttar Pradesh v. Pradeep Tandon [1975]2SCR761 that the reservation of seats in favour of candidates belonging to hill areas and Uttarakhand areas are reservations within the meaning of Article 15(4) of the Constitution, i.e., they are reservations in favour of socially and educationally backward classes of citizens. This Court found that the State has established that the people in hill and Uttarakhand areas are socially and educationally backward classes of citizens . It, therefore, follows that a separate horizontal reservation of six percent of the seats in favour of candidates from hill areas and Uttaranchal apart from and in addition to twenty seven percent reservation in favour of other backward class candidates is clearly illegal. Though this contention has not been specifically raised in these writ petitions, we must yet take notice of this circumstance while making the appropriate directions in these matters. It is indeed surprising that the State of Uttar Prade ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... een percent of the said number comes to 112 seats. In Para 16, it is stated: 16. That in C.P.M.T. 1994 out of this 112 seats 101 students were selected and all of them belong to the General Category. The replying respondent filled up unreserved seats first and while doing so, 101 students selected on the basis of horizontal reservation since they belong to General Category, hence they have to be adjusted against unreserved seats. 9 belonging to Other Backward Glasses Category has secured equivalent marks as General Candidates and thus were selected on merits. These candidates have been adjusted against unreserved category. The Roll number, names and total marks out of 1200 of these candidates are as follows: 1. 33936 Vinay Kumar Gupta 2. 16678 Sharad Chandra s/o 3. 28415 Ram Yash Singh Yadava 4. 10506 Neeraj Kumar S/o 6. 47946 Vishal Singh S/o 7. 47684 Rohit Yadava S/o 8. 15633 Monica Yadava S/o 9. 57620 Mohd. Muddasir 944/1200 The remaining 263 seats were filled through General candidates and last candidate selected has secured 891 marks out of 1200 marks. 201 candidates of Other Backward Classes were selected against reserved seats 157 against seats reserved for d Castes and 15 a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l for the respondents justify the procedure prescribed in the revised notification for making the admissions. With respect to the first contention of the learned Counsel for the petitioners, the submission of the learned Counsel for the Lucknow University and the State of Uttar Pradesh is that the fifteen percent reservation in favour of special categories (special reservation) is an overall reservation and not a compartmentalised reservation. They submit that these special reservations are not divided proportionately among the vertical (social) reservation categories and, therefore, these special reservation candidates have to be provided fifteen percent of the total seats (i.e., 112 seats) overall, whether by adjusting them against any of the social/vertical reservations or otherwise. 16. The question is which of the above interpretations is the correct one having regard to the language employed in the concerned notifications 17. On a careful consideration of the revised notification of December 17, 1994 and the aforementioned corrigendum issued by the Lucknow University, we are of the opinion that in view of the ambiguous language employed therein, it is not possible to give a d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... eserved categories. It is, of course, obvious that the inter se quota between O.C., O.B.C., S.C. and S.T. will not be altered. 18. Now coming to the revised notification of December 17, 1994, it says that horizontal reservation be granted in all medical colleges on total seats of all the courses... . These words are being interpreted in two different ways by the parties; one says it is overall reservation while other says it is compartmentalised. Paragraph 2 says that the candidates selected under the aforesaid special categories would be kept under the categories of d Castes/d Tribes/ Other Backward Classes/General to which they belong. For example, if a candidate dependent on a freedom fighter selected on the basis of reservation belongs to d Castes, he will be adjusted against the seat reserved for d Castes . This is sought to be read by the petitioners as affirming that it is a case of compartmentalised reservation. May be or may not be. It appears that while issuing the said notification, the Government was not conscious of the distinction between overall horizontal reservation and compartmentalised horizontal reservation. At any rate, it may not have had in its contemplation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and S.T. quotas). The proper and correct course is to first fill up the O.C. quota (50%) on the basis of merit; then fill up each of the social reservation quotas, i.e., S.C., S.T. and B.C; the third step would be to find out how many candidates belonging to special reservations have been selected on the above basis. If the quota fixed for horizontal reservations is already satisfied - in case it is an overall horizontal reservation - no further question arises. But if it is not so satisfied, the requisite number of special reservation candidates shall have to be taken and adjusted/accommodated against their respective social reservation categories by deleting the corresponding number of candidates therefrom, (If, however, it is a case of compartmentalised horizontal reservation, then the process of verification and adjustment/accommodation as stated above should be applied separately to each of the vertical reservations. In such a case, the reservation of fifteen percent in favour of special categories, overall, may be satisfied or may not be satisfied.) Because the revised notification provided for a different method of filling the seats, it has contributed partly to the unfortu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ome writ petitions in the High Court also - the Government realised its mistake and issued the revised notification on December 17, 1994. It dropped the reservation in favour of women in stages. The University had then to issue a corrigendum asking the special category candidates to indicate their social status. This was a delayed exercise which ought to have been undertaken at the beginning itself. Even the manner in which the seats have been filled up, as indicated above, is faulty. What we have laid down herein is more for the purpose of future guidance for the respondents. At the same time, we have to rectify the injustice done to the open competition candidates in the admissions in question, to the extend feasible. Accordingly, we direct that in the matter of admissions made pursuant to C.P.M.T. 1994, while the admissions already finalised shall not be disturbed, the Uttar Pradesh Government shall create thirty four additional seats in the M.B.B.S. course and admit thirty four students from the O.C. category against those seats. If any seats are vacant as on today, they shall also be filled from the O.C. category alone. (It is made clear that O.C. category means the merit list ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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