The Hindu : Karnataka News : Notice to Govt. on petition by non-Karnataka students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Notice to Govt. on petition by non-Karnataka students

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, AUG. 10. A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday ordered issue of notice to the State Government on a petition by some non-Karnataka students challenging the recent legislation and the rules reserving government seats in professional colleges only for those domiciled in or residents of Karnataka.

In their petition, Souman Kumar Basha of Orissa and 17 others said they wrote the Common Entrance Test (CET) on May 18 and 19 as per the CET brochure, which stated that non-Karnataka students would be admitted through CET counselling.

But the recent legislation fixing 75:25 seat-sharing ratio did not make any provision for non-Karnataka students in the government quota for medical, dental and engineering courses. This, they said, was against the Supreme Court's judgment in the Unnikrishnan case providing 10 per cent quota within the government quota for students from outside the State.

The Karnataka Selection of Candidates to Professional Institutions Rules, 2004 making 100 per cent reservation of government seats on the basis of residence and domicile were also unconstitutional, they added.

Vivek Reddy, students' counsel, said that of the 30,000 students who appeared for the CET, 16,000 non-Karnataka students qualified for seats in professional courses. Last year, 3,000 seats were allotted to non-Karnataka students, he said.

The petitioners wanted the non-provision of quota for their category to be declared unconstitutional. They also sought an interim stay order on the second casual vacancy round counselling by the CET.

Justice B. Padmaraj and Justice H. Billappa will hear the interim petition on Wednesday.

Directive

A Division Bench on Monday directed the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to reconsider its order rejecting the admission of nine students to the Bachelor of Dental Sciences course in the Rajiv Gandhi College of Dental Science.

Justice B. Padmaraj and Justice H. Billappa issued the directive while upholding the order of a single judge dismissing a batch of writ petitions filed by the students and the college challenging the university's order.

The college had admitted non-Karnataka students against 10 vacant seats in the first year BDS course in 2002-03. But the university denied approval as the college had not notified the vacant seats as per Rule 18 (xvi) of the Karnataka Selection of Candidates for Admission to Engineering, Medical and Dental Science Course Rules, 1997.

The students approached the court urging it to direct the RGUHS to permit them to appear for the September 2003 examination. The single judge dismissed their petitions on January 20, 2000.

The Bench directed the students to approach the university within a month. It asked the university, the Director of Medical Education and the State Government to consider the admission of these students as per law.

It also asked the authorities to allow students with required attendance as per the Dental Council of India regulations to appear for the examination.

The Bench said the judgment should not be treated as a precedent as it had been made considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case.

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