HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.S. NARAYANA WRIT PETITION No.19220 of 2009 Date:23-09- 2009 Between :- Gandreddy Biyantha, Kothavalasa Mandal, Vizianagaram District. .. Petitioner And The Dean Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Hyderabad and others. .. Respondents H O N ' B L E S R I J U S T I WRIT PETITION No.19220 of 2009 ORDER: 1. This Court issued Rule nisi on 22.9.2009. 2. Counter affidavit had been filed. 3. Though the matter is listed under the caption “Interlocutory”, at the request of the learned counsel on record, the writ petition itself is being disposed of finally. 4. The writ petition is filed praying to issue a writ direction or order, more particularly, one in the nature of writ of mandamus to declare the results declared by the first respondent for Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies – admission into a 6-year integrated programme, 2009 i.e., IIIT, more particularly, the selection of candidates for the Kothavalasa Mandal, Vizianagaram District as null and void by canceling the same as the whole selection process is contrary to the admission procedure stipulated under Clause 2 (c), (d) issued by the 1st respondent. 5. Sri Srinivas Emani, the learned counsel representing the petitioner, would submit that certain candidates who are from private schools had been considered as though such candidates would fall within the category coming from the Government Schools. In the light of the same, the bonafide candidates like the petitioner had been deprived of the admission into the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies. 6. Per contra, the learned Government Pleader for GAD would maintain that in the light of the clear stand taken in the counter affidavit especially in Para Nos.4 and 5, the petitioner is not entitled to any relief whatsoever. The learned Government Pleader for GAD also would maintain that as far as aided institutions are concerned, such institutions had been treated as falling under the category of Government Schools. 7. Heard the learned counsel for both the parities. 8. It is stated that Miss G.Biyantha appeared for 10th Class examinations conducted by the Board of Secondary Education and passed in distinction having secured 538 marks out of 600 marks with a percentage of 89.7%. She applied for a seat in the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies for admission into 6-year Integrated Programme through Application No.101207, International Institute of Information Technologies called “Three IIIT’s” for the academic year 2009. The admission procedure for the course is prescribed, under the heading “Admission Procedure”, as: 1. Admission to each constituent institute of this University will be after passing Secondary School Certificate (Tenth Standard) Examination in their first attempt in that academic year from the State of Andrha Pradesh. a. There will be no entrance examination and admission will be strictly based on student performance in SSC and other equivalent Board Examinations such as CBSE, ICSE, Oriental SSC and NOS. 2 c. The State Wide Merit and Rural Seats will be distributed in the proportion of 10%, 20% and 70% to Residential, Private, Government Schools. 2 d. Reservation of seats as per the existing G.O. will be followed for allocating seats, i.e., SC-15%, ST- 6%, BC-A%, BC-B-1%, BC-D-7%, BC-E-4% in both State Wide Merit and Rural Seats. The seats were distributed to all the 23 Districts in the State of Andrha Pradesh following the population census. In accordance with the distribution of seats, the petitioner, who appeared from the Vizainagaram District, has got about 168 Seats for all the categories. The petitioner appeared from the Kothavalasa Mandal in Vizianagaram District and about seven seats were allotted to the Kothavalasa Mandal though initially nine seats were allotted and later rectified as seven seats to Kothavalasa Mandal. 9. It is further stated that the name of the petitioner was initially shown in the selected candidates list made by the first respondent. As per the rectified allotted seats, the students, who are selected for the Kothavalasa Mandal, are to be six from Government High Schools and one from the Private School. The petitioner appeared from Government School, ZPHS Denderu and the other two students namely; Malluvalasa Murali and Pilla Devi also appeared from the ZPHS, Denderu. As such only three students were initially declared as selected from the Government High School category students in the initial list of selected candidates. 10. It is also stated that the petitioner was under fond hope that she was selected for the course and was expecting a call letter from the Selection Process to be held from 14.9.2009 to 17.9.2009. Unfortunately, the petitioner’s name was not reflected in the list of selected candidate, declared by the 1st respondent. The first respondent, without following the due procedure contemplated as per the Brochure and Admission Procedure, selected four students who appeared from the Private School and they were shown as if they had studied in Government Schools and the private school students were selected under the Government High School category are only eligible to be selected from the Government High Schools. The 1st respondent, contrary to the procedure, adjusted the students appeared from a Private School known as St.Ann’s School, Mangalapalem. They are namely; (1) Mankena Veer at Sl.No.13, (2) Mamidi Teja at Sl.No.20, (3) Polamarset at Sl.No.31 and (4) Chinna Babu at sl.No.73. The students, having been studied in a Private School are eligible under the Private Schools Category with a percentage of 20% as stipulated in the selection procedure. But the above four students were declared as selected from the Management of Government High School though they are the students appeared from a Private School. 11. Further, it is also stated that in view of the said selection process which went contrary to the selection procedure and the percentage of the students to be selected under Government School Category, the petitioner was deprived of to get a seat for the course though, she is eligible for the selection of the course. The respondent is bound to give six seats for the students who appeared from the Government High Schools and one seat for the student who appeared from the Private School, but the above students stated supra were illegally shown as students appeared from the Government High Schools and were selected for the course. The petitioner’s right cannot be deprived of and her right to take her higher studies are infringed as contemplated under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. 12. It is also averred that even though the malafides and highhanded action that took place in the selection process, were brought to the notice of the respondents by representation dated 3.8.2009 by complaint No.173 and by complaint No.108071, dated 10.8.2009, but contrary to that the selection process is correct, but they failed to admit the correctness in the process of the selection process made in accordance with the percentage of 10%, 20% and 70% i.e., Residential, Private, Government Schools respectively. The petitioner should get a seat as she secured 89.7% in the S.S.C., examination and she appeared from a Government High School. The mode of wrong selection process was also published in the daily news papers and in spite of the oral demands from the students, no action has been taken to rectify the selection process. 13. Further, it is stated that the procedure prescribed for eligibility in the course is that the candidate can apply for the course having passed in the 10th standard in the first attempt in that academic year, and there is no opportunity to get a seat in the course once the candidate failed to get a seat in that academic year. The petitioner having secured 89.7% marks cannot be denied a seat in the course having brought the un-eligible students from the Private Schools to the Government School Category. The process of selection will be completed from 14.9.2009 to 17.9.2009. In the circumstances, the petitioner approached this Court. 14. The learned counsel representing the petitioner also had pointed out to the representations dated 3.8.2009 and 10.8.009 and also pointed out the admission Brouchre, the relevant portions thereof, the applications made, the acknowledgment card, the results of declaration of seats, S.S.C Hall Ticket, the memorandum of caste certificate, the income certificate and other documents which had been placed before this Court along with the writ petition. 15. In the counter affidavit filed by the respondents 1 to 3, it is stated that Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies has been established through Act 18 of 2008 which came into force on 28.4.2008, under Section 5 of the Act, and there shall be an Apex body for all governance of the constituent institutes established under Section 3 i.e., Governing Council. The governing council shall be responsible for the general superintendence accreditation, direction and policies of all the constituent institutions. The powers of the Governing Council are enumerated in Section 5 (2). As per Section 5 (2) (v), the Governing Council has the power to determine standards and procedures for admissions into the constituent institutes, which may include examination, evaluation or any other method of testing. Under Section 5 (2) (ix), the Governing Council has the power to review, from time to time, the board policies and programs. Under Section 5 (2) (xii), the Governing Council shall do all such other acts and things as MAY be necessary, incidental or conductive to the attainment of all or any of the objects of the University. The main object of the University is to primarily cater to the educational needs of the meritorious rural youth of Andhra Pradesh. Three constituent Institutes have been established – one at Basara in Adlabad District, second at Nuzvid in Krishna District and the third at Rajiv Knowledge Valley (Idupulapaya) in Kadapa District. An integrated course of six years has been commenced in the above three institutions during the academic year 2008-2009. The Government of India, Ministry of home affairs declared the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies as a State wide University vide order dated 27.8.2009. a) It is further stated that the Admission to each constituent institute of Admission to each constituent institute of this University will be after passing Secondary School Certificate (Tenth Standard) Examination in their first attempt in that academic year from the State of Andrha Pradesh. a. There will be no entrance examination and admission will be strictly based on student performance in the SSC and other equivalent Aboard Examinations such as CBSE, ICSE, Oriental SSC and NOS. b. The total intake of the students from Andrha Pradesh will be 6000 at the rate of 2000 in each institute. These seats will be allotted as follows: c. State Wide Merit: 15% of the seats, i.e., 900 seats are allotted for all the students attending schools in A.P., d. Rural Seats: 85% of 6000, i.e., 5100 seats are allotted only for the students attending schools in rural mandals of A.P. These seats will be allocated based on the mandal best criteria. The rural mandals are as defined by the Department of Education, Government A.P. i. All the rural seats are allocated according to rules applicable to a State-wide University, i.e., 42% of the seats are allocated to Coastal Andhra, 36% to Telengana and 22% to Rayalaseema. ii. The seats are distributed among various districts based on 2001 census population. District wise and Reservation wise allocation of seats are provided in the table below. iii. The district wise seats are further divided among the mandals according to the rural population of the mandal. Then the fractional seats are rounded to the first decimal. The integer seats are assigned to each category. Finally, adjustment is made to achieve the correct district wise total in each reservation category at the District and State Level. iv. The seats available to a mandal are allocated to OC, BC, SC, and ST according reservation norms. Usually, the fractional seats in each mandal are too small for unique assignment. In such cases allocation is made on a district- wise basis from among the mandal toppers, where the best students within a district in each reservation category are selected to fill the seats available. e. The State-Wide-Merit and Rural Seats will be distributed in the proportion of 10%, 20% and 70% to Residential, Private, Government schools. f. Reservation of seats as per the existing G.O will be followed for allocating seats, i.e., SC- 15%, ST-6%, BC-A-7%, BC-B-10%, BC-C-1%, BC-D-7%, BC-E-4% in both State Wide Merit and Rural Seats. g. Reservation for Physically Handicated will be followed as per the existing G.O at the state level, i.e., 3% of 6000 as a horizontal reservation. h. Reservation for Children of Armed Forces Personal will be followed as per the existing G.O at the state level, i.e., 2% of 6000 as a horizontal reservation. b) The selection of students will be based on percentage marks rounded decimal among the students taking SSC or equivalent exam after 10th class. i. In case of a tie, marks in English and Mathematics are used sequentially to select the person with better performance. In case of a further tie, age is used in tiebreak, with the person, who is older, getting selected. c) Private Students: Students that take SSC examination as private students will only be considered as part of the private school category independent of where they take the examination. d) In order to promote diversity, up to 5% of the available seats (over and above 6000 seats) will be open to students internationally including students attending schools in other states. Admission will be on the basis of their marks (percentage rounded to the first decimal) among the applicants. A minimum of 80% marks for International applicants will be required. 16. In the counter affidavit, the stand taken by the respondents is that as per the information furnished by the District Information for School Education (DISE), the petitioner’s Roll No.6108392 belongs to BC-D Category and studied in Z.P.H.School, Denderu, Kothavalasa Mandal of Vizianagaram District. The petitioner studied under Rural area in Government School. Further, the stand taken by the petitioner can only be considered for admission in Rural seats, from Kothavalasa Mandal, Vizianagaram District, in Government Management under BC-D category. The last selected candidate has secured 91.3%, whereas the petitioner secured 89.7% only. Hence, the petitioner was not selected by the Respondent –University. 17. The main grievance of the petitioner is that certain candidates from the same mandal who had studied in the Private Schools were considered as though they fall within the category of students coming from the Government Schools. It is needless to say that this is a question of fact. Let the respondents verify this aspect since the specific case of the petitioner is that if the same is verified with care and caution, the petitioner also may be entitled to a seat. 18. In the light of the same, the writ petition is disposed of especially in the light of the representations said to have been made by the petitioner dated 03.8.2009 and 10.8.2009, directing the respondents to consider the case of the petitioner in accordance with the Rules and Guidelines, within a period of two weeks, at any rate preferably before the end of III Phase of the counseling. 19. The Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. No order as to costs. ____________________ ( P . S . N A Date:23.09.2009 mrb