A.K.SIKRI,J. - (1.) The petitioners herein, three in number, belong to Muslim minority community. They are, however, not residents of Kerala and their fixed abode is Tamil Nadu. They have appeared in the National Eligibility Cum Common Entrance Test (for short, 'NEET-UG ') examination, which is an All India examination for admission to various medical courses. Results of NEET-UG examination were published on June 23, 2017. Though the petitioners have qualified the said test, their All India ranking appears to be quite low. Notwithstanding this ranking, the petitioners are hopeful of getting admission in minority institution run and administered by their community, as they feel that because of the preference which can be given by the minority institutions to the persons belonging to their community, it provides a reasonable chance of getting admission to such colleges. Respondent Nos. 4 to 8 are the medical colleges run by the minority institutions. However, the petitioners feel their chances to get admission in any of the aforesaid colleges, i.e. respondent Nos. 4 to 8 which are situated in Kerala, are dented because of the undue preference given to those who are residents of Kerala. This mars the chances for getting admission in Kerala colleges as they are non-keralites being residents of Tamil Nadu.
(2.) In the writ petition reference is made to Ordinance No. 7 of 2017 known as "The Kerala Medical Education (Regulation and Control of Admission to Private Medical Educational Institutions) Ordinance of 2017 ", {Notification No. 4246/leg.H1/2017/LAW} which was promulgated on June 01, 2017 by the Governor of Kerala. This Ordinance provided for the regulation of admission and fixation of fee for private medical educational institutions in the State of Kerala and also for providing reservation of seats to persons belonging to the Schedules Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes in medical/educational institutions. Section 10 of this Ordinance provided for reservation of seats. This provision reads as under: "10. Reservation of seats. - In admission to private aided or unaided medical educational institutions, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of Article 30 of the Constitution of India, there shall be reservation at the stage of admission for the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes of citizens as may be prescribed by the Government. "
(3.) As per the aforesaid provision, reservation was made for persons belonging to Schedules Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. Further, persons belonging to these classes are not confined to the State of Kerala and all those who are citizens of India are qualified for such reservation. Further, the minority institutions governed by Article 30 of the Constitution of India are excluded from this provision, meaning thereby they are not supposed to make reservation for these classes as prescribed by the Government and they can have their own system of reservation, if any. Section 2(c) of this Ordinance defines 'centralised counselling ' as under: "(c) "centralized counselling " means a common counselling and allotment of seats in colleges through a single window procedure by the Government or by any agency authorised by it for persons who have qualified in the entrance test for the purpose of merit based admission to medical colleges or institutions; " ;