CHAMPAKAM DORAIRAJAN Vs. STATE OF MADRAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these two applns. substantially the same questions fall to be decided & they were, therefore, heard together. In C. M. P. No. 5255 of 1950 the petnr. is one Srimathi Champakam Dorairajan. In the affidavit filed by her in support of the appln., she states that she is a graduate of the Madras University having passed in 1934 the B. A. degree examination taking Physios & Chemistry for her subjects, that owing to financial & other difficulties she could not join forthwith or seek to join the Medical College, that she has since been able to decide on reading for a medical degree, that she made enquiries with regard to her admission into the Government Medical College at Madras in the M. B. B. S. course, that she ascertained that in respect of admissions into the said College the authorities were enforcing & observing an order of the Govt. referred to as the Communal Government Order, in & by which the admission into the Medical College is to be regulated not by qualification or suitableness of the candidate, applying for admission, but by directions involving the making of discriminations between appct. & appct. on the ground of caste, sex, etc., & that in the face of that order she had little or no chance of being admitted into the said College. She contends that the said Order of Govt. is void as it is inconsistent with the provisions of the Const. Ind. & operates as an infringement of her personal right as a citizen of the State of Madras, & that the maintenance of that order is an infringement of the fundamental rights declared & formulated by the Const. Ind. She, therefore, prays for the issue of a writ of mandamus, or any other suitable prerogative writ restraining the State of Madras & all its officers & subordinates from enforcing, observing, maintaining or following or requiring the enforcement, observance, maintenance or following by the concerned authorities in the State of the Notification or Order generally referred to as the communal Government Order in & by which admissions into the Madras Medical. College is sought or permitted to be regulated in such a manner as to infringe & involve the violation of the fundamental rights referred to in the clauses of the Const. Ind. namely, Article 15, Clause (1) & Article 29, Clause (2).

(2.) In C. m. P. No. 5340 the petnr. is one C. R. Srinivasan. In his affidavit he states that he has passed the Intermediate Examination of the Madras University held in March 1950 in Group I taking Mathematics, Physios & Chemistry as his optionals in the first class & obtained for a maximum of 450 marks in the optionals 369 marks; that he has filed an ap pln. for admission to the Engineering College at Guindy, that he learns that the admission in the Engineering College is governed by a Government Order whereby admission is gov erned by communal proportion (the Order already referred to in the previous Civ. Mise. Petn.) that he apprehends that there is no prospect of his appln. being considered on its merits with due regard to his qualifications, ignoring considerations of race, caste & or religion. The petnr. contends that the said Government Order is inconsistent with Article 15 & Article 29(a) of the Constitution & prays that the Govt. may rescind the Order & direct the Committee appointed to select the candidates for admission into the Engineering College to consider his appln. for admission on its rela tive merits without reference to considerations of religion, race, caste, language or any of them & to dispose of the same in accordance with the terms of Articles 29(2) & 15 of the Constitu tion.

(3.) On behalf of the State of Madras, counter affidavits were filed in the two petns. setting forth practically the same legal contentions. In the counter- affidavit filed in C. M. P. No. 5255 of 1950 it is stated that the total number of seats available in the four Medical Colleges run by the Govt. of Madras is only 330, that out of these, 17 seats are reserved for students coming from outside the State, 12 seats for discretionary allotment by the Govt. in consultation with the Surgeon-General; that the balance of seats available are apportioned between four distinct groups of districts in the State, that the seats so apportioned are filled up according to the rule intended to protect the weaker flections of the people & to provide equal opportunities to all, that accordingly out of 14 seats 6 are allotted to non-Brahmin Hindus, 2 backward Hindu communities, 2 to Brahmins, 2 to Harijans, 1 to Anglo-Indians & Indian Christians & 1 to Muslims. The above allocation is claimed to be based not solely on population figures, but that it has been worked out after a due consideration of the numerical strength, literary attainment & the economic conditions of the various communities in the State. Subject to these regional & protective provisions, selection from among the appots. from a particular community from one of the groups of districts is made on certain principles, preference being given in a particular order. No less than 20% of the total number of seats available for students of the State are filled by woman candidates separately for each region. It is open to the Selection Committee to admit a large number of women candidates in any region if qualified candidates are available & if they are eligible for selection on merits vis-a-vis the men candidates. On behalf of the State it is contended that the Order of Govt. regulating admissions to the College is not invalid, because under Article 46 of the Constitution, the State is bound to promote with special care the educational interests of the weaker sections of the people & protect them from social injustice & all forms of exploitation, & that the State has the sole discretion to decide who are weaker sections of the people. It is pleaded that as the number of seats available in educational institutions maintained by the State represents only a fraction of the number of applns. for such seats, quite a large number of applicants have to be denied admission, but such denial is not on grounds only of religion, caste, etc., but on a multiplicity of grounds including the paucity of seats, the necessity for regional & linguistic representations, the necessity for promoting with special care the inter, ests of the backward communities & other factors & that the said Order of Govt. is neither illegal nor opposed to any Article of the Constitution of India.