PRASAD, J. - (1.) THE facts and controversy involved in this bunch of petitions is common and therefore, for the sake of arguments, facts of S. B. Civil Writ Petition No. 4694/2003 `jafer Ahmed vs. J. N. V. University, are taken into consideration.
(2.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner submits that while the tests for Rajasthan Pre Medical and Rajasthan Pre Veterinary, examinations were conceived, for the guidance of the student, an information booklet was published. It has been produced with the petition annexure 1. This booklet was published having information about the modalities of admission process. In this booklet at page 17 mode of admission has been delineated which reads as under: The merit list of the successful and eligible candidate of RPMT/pvt-2003 shall be prepared category-wise. These successful and eligible candidates will be admitted in order of merit in General as well as reserved category up to the seats available in that category except the seats belonging to Category (a) of Rule 2 mentioned above. If the merit of any reserved category remains unexhausted after completing the reservation quota of each category under reservation then the remaining candidates from the list of that category shall be eligible for consideration for admission only on merit basis against the general category if they are eligible to compete with the candidates of General category. Candidates securing equal numbers of marks in the RPMT/pvt- 2003 will be admitted in the following order of preference. i) One who has secured more marks in Science Biology group subject (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) at the Senior Secondary (10+2) Examination or its equivalent recognized examination. ii) Among the candidates securing equal number of marks in the Science Biology group subjects at the Senior secondary (10+2) Examination or its equivalent recognized examination preference in order will be given to the candidate who has passed this qualifying examination in lesser number of attempts. iii) If there is further tie, preference in order will be given to the candidate who has secured more marks in Secondary School Examination or its equivalent recognized examination. iv) Admission of candidates who have passed the qualifying examination from the University/board of the State other than Rajasthan will be provisional till the Eligibility Certificate is issued by the Rajasthan Agricultural University, Bikaner after fulfilling the necessary requirement by the candidate". According to the learned counsel for the petitioner in the mode of admission there was a sufficient exposition of the intention of the State Govt. The kind of treatment the State Govt. has intended to give to the students, has been held out clearly. Those who were desirous to take examination for the RPMT and RPMT Examinations for the year 2003 this document contained detailed instructions. The examinations were completed, the answer sheets were evaluated. In the form of Annexure/3 RPMT merit list for admission in the year 2003 was published. This list was published after retotaling and rechecking. The petitioner Jaffar Ahmed's name appeared in the column third being roll number 13847 at page 1 of the merit list. If serialised number of petitioner comes at serial Number 213 in merit list. The programme was scheduled for holding the counselling. The programme is delineated in annexure/4 published by the office of the respondent No. 2 on 12. 8. 03 and the same has been produced with the writ petition as annexure/3. The counselling was to commence from 21. 8. 03. The counselling was to be made in order of merit as per the marks secured by the candidates. Those who secured 834 marks to 782 marks in the general boys category, were to make themselves available for counselling on 21. 8. 03 for PMT. The marks secured by the other students have been delineated in annexure/4 in order of merit they were to make themselves available. These are the marks which have been made the basis for preparing annexure/3 merit list. The grievance of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that in the night intervening 20. 8. 03 and 21. 8. 03 the mode of admission which was earlier given out in the information booklet produced in the writ petition as annexure/1 was given goodbye. When the counselling started on 21. 8. 03 in the morning a fresh mode of admission was enforced. A notice issued by the office of the respondent No. 2 and published in the newspaper and produced with the writ petition is annexure/6. This corrigendum is dated 22. 8. 03 and the counselling which was originally scheduled to begun on 21. 8. 03 was rescheduled vide annexure/6. The respondent No. 2 extended the last date of counselling which was earlier fixed vide annexure/4 as 26. 8. 03 to 31. 8. 03.
(3.) ACCORDING to the learned counsel for the petitioner, change which has been brought about in the mode of admission is delineated in paragraph 8 of the writ petition which reads as under: " That it is pertinent to note here that the counselling has been started w. e. f. 21. 8. 03 and on that date the candidates of General Boys Category were called for their counselling in order of merit and simultaneously, the OBC Boys as well as ST Boys were also called for their counseling. But at the time of counselling the candidates belonging to reserve category, who competed with the general category, were included in General Boys Category, resulting which the merit list was changed and the candidate like petitioner who was earlier placed in merit at S. No. 213 has now been placed much below in the merit list of the general boys category". The change brought out by the State Govt. is given out with the reply vide letter of the State Govt. dated 16. 8. 03. In this letter a reference has been made to a D. B. decision of this court. It says that marks of the students of reserved category, falling in the merit of general category, cannot be treated as against the reserved category. Meaning thereby that he would be treated as a general category candidate and such candidates shall not be counted for reserved category. Learned counsel for the petitioner does not dispute the proposition of law as contained in the D. B. decision. He has referred to the decision R/2 which is basis of issuing annexure R/3. Annexure R/2 is a decision of the Division Bench of this court. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, it lays down that the admissions which have been made in the year 99 cannot be disturbed in the year 02. However, agreeing with the submission of the learned counsel, the court was of the opinion that the orders which were passed in the year 99 cannot be sustained. The court has further observed that the authorities were required to follow the law as has been laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court. Candidates of reserved category cannot be considered against the reserved seats only in case they fall in merit in general list. The ratio of the case has been ordered to apply prospectively. ;