MISRA, J. - (1.) ALL these five writ petitions have been consolidated and heard together on request of the counsel for the parties, as all the petitioners herein have staked their claim for admission on the un-filled seats of Post Graduate Course in Ayurved, which is called Ayurveda Vachaspati ear marked for inservice candidates on the basis of their respective pleas which will be discussed hereinafter. The reason which has given a foot-hold to the petitioner to move this Court for filing the two writ petitions bearing S. B. C. W. P. No. 4436/99 - (Prem Chand Meena vs. National Institute of Ayurveda and S. B. C. W. P. No. 4437/99 - (Ramesh Chand vs. National Institute of Ayurveda) is based on the claim that the un-filled seats ear marked for the SC/st inservice candidates for admission into the Post Graduate Course of Ayurveda should be diverted for admission of the applicants belonging to the reserved category candidates and not to the general category.
(2.) IN so far as petitioners Munesh Kumar in SBCWP No. 4196/99 and Miss. Sharda Tak in SBCWP No. 4181/99 are concerned, they have countered the claim of the aforesaid petitioners on the ground that the un-filled seats ear marked for the inservice candidates cannot be allowed to be diverted into the reserved category in view of the rules laid down in the prospectus for admission itself. According to them the un-filled seats of the inservice candidates has to be left open for admission of the students belonging to the general category according to rule laid down in this regard indicated in the prospectus for admission. The petitioner-Murarilal Meena in SBCWP No. 4438/99 has also claimed a seat for admission into the Post Graduate Course of Ayurveda on the ground that he is entitled for seat in the category of Scheduled Tribe candidates for he is at S. No. 5 in the said category since one of the students in this category since one of the students in this category has already qualified in the general merit and, therefore, his seat should be declared vacant and the petitioner should be granted admission on this seat as he is the next eligible candidate in this category. In support of his submission, the counsel for the petitioner in this matter has relied upon a judgment delivered in the matter of Shri Ritesh R. Sah vs. Dr. Y. L. Yamul & Ors. (1 ). The legality of the plea of the reserved category candidates perhaps could have been examined better if there had been no rules in this regard in the norms laid down in the prospectus for the admission but not much scope has been left in this regard in view of the provisions laid down in the prospectus of admission itself to the course which requires to be enumerated at the outset even before the facts of the case are laid down as the entire case rests on this provision. The relevant rule lays down as follows: " (C) Reservations (i) 25% seats shall be reserved for the inservice candidates employed in Central/state Government (including Local Body/undertaking/councils etc.) out of which 15% are reserved for natural born S. C. Candidates and 7. 5% for natural born S. T. Candidates. (ii) 15% of seats, after excluding the seats reserved for inservice candidates of Central/state Government etc. as mentioned in clause (i) above, are reserved for natural born Scheduled Caste Candidates and 7. 5% seats for natural born Scheduled Tribe Candidates on merit. Selection for these vacancies shall be made as per Roster System prescribed by the University. (iii) The remaining seats which shall be called General Seats and the unfilled seats from those reserved under clause (i) and (ii) above after exhausting the waiting list in each category shall be filled from candidates belonging to general category. Among them one seat is reserved for Sri Lankan candidate and remaining will be filled on the basis of merit subject to the condition that at least 50% of these seats shall be filled in by candidate passing. Ayurvedacharya/b. A. M. S. Examination from the University of Rajasthan if qualified candidates become available. In case of any difficulty in the distribution of outside seats and seats for Rajasthan University Degree holders, after giving equal numbers of seats to both these categories, the left outseat will be given to open merit. " The facts of the case, however, are not in controversy as all the petitioners in these cases had appeared in the Entrance Test conducted by the National Institute of Ayurveda which is an Institution established by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare which is affiliated to the University of Rajasthan and follows the syllabus and curriculum prescribed by the Central Government of Indian Medicine as approved by the University of Rajasthan. A merit list was thereafter prepared by the respondent-National Institute of Ayurveda and admissions were granted to the candidates on the seats allotted in the general category and to the candidates belonging to the reserved category on the seats ear marked for the reserved category of Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe candidates. Admittedly, there were 45 seats to be filled for the course and after following the roster of filling up the vacancies, four seats have been left un-filled which belong to the category of inservice candidates and all the petitioners are laying their claim to these seats on the basis of their respective claims. Miss Sharda Tak and Munesh Kumar Sharma petitioners in SBCWP No. 4196/99 and SBCWP No. 4181/99 could not qualify for a seat in the general category as per their merit position in the merit list. They, however, have laid their claim to a seat on the averment that the un-filled seats ear marked for the inservice candidates has to be allotted to the general candidates since it has been clearly laid down in Rule 2. 2 (C) (iii) quoted herein before that 25% seats which are reserved for the inservice candidates and 15% seats after excluding the seats reserved for inservice candidates of Central/state Governments as mentioned in clause (i) (the remaining seats) shall be called general seats and the un-filled seats from those reserved under clause (i) and (ii) above after exhausting the waiting list in each category shall be filled from candidates belonging to general category. The counsel for the petitioners in these two writ petitions has asserted that they have rightfull claim against the un-filled seats of inservice candidates since they have to be treated as general seats as per this clause.
(3.) MR. Ganesh Meena, the counsel for petitioners Ramesh Chand and Prem Chand Meena in SBCWP No. 4436/99 and SBCWP No. 4437/99 on the contrary laid emphasis that the seats ear marked for the inservice candidates out of which 15% were to be kept reserved for natural born S. C. Candidates and 7. 5% for natural born S. T. candidates having not been filled up by the inservice candidates of the reserved category ought to have been treated as un-filled seats meant for the reserved category candidates and hence the petitioners who belong to the reserved category in these two matters ought to be held entitled for seats in the reserved category. It is thus clear that the rival claim of the petitioners regarding the un-filled seats of the inservice candidates has to be tested on the anvil of the rule quoted hereinabove laid down in the prospectus which is sufficiently clear as it unambigously lays down that "the remaining seats shall be called general seats and the un-filled seats from those reserved under clause (i) and (ii) above after exhausting the waiting list in each category shall be filled from candidates belonging to general category. " This rule specifically do not leave any scope of diverting the un-filled seats ear marked for the candidates into the reserved category for if that were so, clause (iii) would have incorporated such provision laying down that the un-filled seats of the inservice candidates reserved for the inservice candidates of SC/st category have to be filled from the reserved category candidates only. In the previous years also a dispute of this nature had cropped up and it was clarified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that the un-filled seats of the inservice candidates will have to be treated as general seats to be filled in by the candidates of general category. It has been pointed out on behalf of the petitioners in these cases, that if such a diversion is not allowed, 11 seats out of 44 seats will have to be given to the SC/st category which would clearly run counter to the rule in this regard. It would be worth-while to remember that the petitioners belonging to the reserved category have not challenged the rule relating to reservation given out in the prospectus of the National Institute of Ayurveda established by the government of India and unless it was amended, the seats ear marked for the inservice candidates belonging to the SC and ST category in case it remains un-filled, will have to be diverted to the general seats and cannot be treated as reserved category seats since the rule laid down in the prospectus leaves no scope for this court to use its discretion and hold that the seats of this category cannot be treated as general category seats since that would clearly run counter to Rule 2. 2 (c) (iii) as quoted and discussed hereinbefore. In the result, no relief can be granted to the petitioners Prem Chand Meena and Ramesh Chand who are petitioners in SBCWP No. 4436/99 and 4437/99 respectively. Their writ petitions accordingly are dismissed and they cannot be held entitled for admission into the Course as they have neither qualified in the reserved category nor they have qualified in the general category and their claim for admission against the seats of inservice candidates, cannot be entertained. ;