ALOK SHARMA,J. - (1.) Having written the NEET, 2018 examination, petitioner found place at Sr. No. 6944 in the Provisional Combined State Merit List (Round Two) MBBS and BDS Admissions, 2018 as issued by the NEET UG Medical and Dental Admission/Counselling Board, 2018 (hereafter 'the Admission/Counselling Board, 2018') as per revised Notification dated 9.8.2018. Having registered for counselling, the petitioner appeared before Admission/Counselling Board, 2018 at SMS Medical College, Jaipur on 13th August, 2018 and submitted the choice form alongwith educational qualification documents and a Demand Draft of Rs. 1.50 lac as required for her admission against the payment seat of MBBS of the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Jaipur. She however was not considered to be eligible by the Admission/Counselling Board, 2018 on the ground that she did not have two years' regular and continuous study in Biology/Bio-technology subject at the 10+2 level as purportedly was warranted by Regulation 4(2)(a) of the Under Graduate Medical Regulations 1997 (hereafter 'the Regulations of 1997'). Hence this petition was filed on 16th August, 2018.
(2.) Reply to the petition has been filed. It has been stated that petitioner not having undergone two years' regular and continuous study in Biology at the Sr. Secondary level, she was not found eligible by the Admission/Counselling Board, 2018 in view of Regulation 4(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1997.
(3.) Mr. JK Yogi appearing for the petitioner submitted that the sole defence of the respondents with regard to the purported ineligibility of the petitioner for reason of regulation 4(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1997 i.e. for not having studied Biology as a regular student continuously for two years at the 10+2 level stands demolished by the judgment of the Division Bench of Delhi High Court in the case of Tanishq Gangwar and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. - WP (C) No. 6773/2018; decided on 17.8.2018 which has held the regulation 4(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1997 as discriminatory and arbitrary and hence ultra-vires the Constitution of India. Mr. JK Yogi further submitted that following the aforesaid judgment, this Court in S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 18546/2018 - Suraj Bansal v. Union of India & Ors. , by a detailed interim order passed on 20.8.2018 has held that once a provision of a Central statute has been declared ultra-vires and struck off by any High Court, such provision would be inoperative against all through the territory of India. He submitted that in this view of the matter, the petitioner's alleged ineligibility for reasons of Regulation 4(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1997 cannot hold. The petitioner lacks on no other count with regard to her eligibility for being admitted into MBBS, 2018 having qualified the NEET 2018 examination and having admittedly passed the Sr. Secondary Examination with Biology, albeit as an additional subject in the subsequent year. Mr. JK Yogi submitted that the mere fact that Suraj Bansal similarly placed was allotted a College by the Admission/Counselling Board, 2018 and the petitioner was not, was only a fortuitous circumstance but yet the act of the Admission/Counselling Board, 2018 remains discriminatory. The petitioner like Suraj Bansal also should have been allotted a college with reference to her preference cum merit. It was submitted that in the event a distinction/classification between those similarly placed based only on the fortuitous circumstance of one having been allotted a medical college by the Admission/Counselling Board, 2018 and another similarly placed not allotted a medical college were to be allowed, it would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Mr. JK Yogi submitted that following the judgment of the Delhi High Court in the case of Tanishq Gangwar (supra), and the interim order of this Court dated 20.8.2018, when petitioner sought to participate in the mop up round of counselling on 21st and 22nd August, 2018 as regulation 4(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1997 rendering her ineligible had been struck off, her case then ought to have been considered for reason of the disability attributed to her with reference to Regulation 4(2)(a) of the Regulations of 1997 not holding, yet the petitioner was again arbitrarily overlooked and denied admission. Mr. JK Yogi further submitted that fortunately for her, for some divine intervention she has not been put into a position of irreparable harm in view of the fact that a vacancy (Free Payment Seat) obtains at the Raj Mes Medical College, Bharaptur, to which she can be now admitted.;