IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 5892 of 2008 Between: 1 S.Narasimha Raju S/o.S.Satyanarayana Raju R/o.3-12-12/9,Seetharampuram Suryapet, Nalgonda District 2 Syed Abdul Haseeb Jafferi S/o.Syed Abdul Qayoom R/o.10-2-37, Flat No.G-II, Dolphin Apartment A.C.Guards, Bazarghat, Hyderabad ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 Government of Andhra pradesh, rep.by its Principal Secretary to Government Department of Higher Education, Secretariat, Hyderabad 2 ASPCHE rep.by the Secretary,. Masab Tank Hyderabad 3 The Director , Directorate of Admissions Masab Tank, Hyderabad 4 Osmania University, rep.by its Registrar OU Campus, Hyderabad 5 Nalanda College of Pharmacy, rep.by the Principal Charlapally, Nalgonda District .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ order or directions more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus: by declaring the action of the respondents in not permitting the petitioners to continue the M.Pharmacy course as unconstitutional and consequently direct the respondents to take all necessary steps including relaxation of condition etc., with a consequential direction to the respondents to permit the petitioners to complete the course of M.Pharmacy (2007-02009). Counsel for the Petitioner:MRS.K.RAJITHA Counsel for the Respondent : MR.DEEPAK BHATTACHARJEE FOR RR3&4 GP FOR HIGHER EDUCATION FOR RAPP C.SUDESH ANAND(SC FOR APSCHE) FOR RR2 The Court made the following : ORDER This writ petition has been ﬁled by the petitioners, who are two in number, seeking direction to the respondents to permit them to continue M.Pharmacy course. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that the Government issued G.O.Ms.No.47, dated 17.4.2008, amending the Andhra Pradesh Regulation of Admissions into Post Graduate Engineering including Technology/Pharmacy/Architecture and Planning Courses (through Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering and Common Entrance Test) Rules, 2007 ( for short ‘the Rules), lowering the eligibility marks from 60% to 50% in the qualifying examination and therefore, there cannot be any impediment to the petitioners to continue the course in which they joined since they secured more than 50%. The amended rules read as hereunder. (1)in rule 4, to sub rule (iii) the following proviso shall be added, namely; “Provided that for the academic year 2007-2008, the vacant seats if any, shall be ﬁlled with the candidates securing not less than 50% marks in aggregate or in group subjects in the qualifying examination duly ensuring merit and transparency”. (2)In rule 6, in sub rule (iii), to clause (4), the following proviso shall be added, namely; “Provided that for the academic year 2007-2008, if vacant seats still exist, such seats may be ﬁlled with any candidate securing not less than 50% marks in aggregate or in Group subjects in the qualifying examination duly ensuring merit and transparency” In view of the said amended rules, the writ petition is disposed of permitting the petitioners to continue M.Pharmacy Course and further, the respondents are directed to declare the results of the petitioners since it is stated that they have appeared 1st year Semester examination pursuant to the interim order passed by this Court. No costs. ________ 4-8-2008 rkk