HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.S. NARAYANA WRIT PETITION No.19638 of 2009 Date:23-09- 2009 Between :- Mallipeddi Nitheesha, Nalgonda District and other .. Petitioners And The Government of Andhra Pradesh Rep by its Principal Secretary, School Education (SE) Dept., Secretariat, Hyderabad and others. .. Respondents H O N ' B L E S R I J U S T I WRIT PETITION No. 19638 of 2009 ORDER: 1. Heard Smt M.Bhagayamma, learned counsel representing the writ petitioners and the learned Government Pleader for General Administration Department representing the respondents. 2. The learned counsel representing the petitioners had taken this Court to the contents of the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition and also to the counter affidavit and further placed before this Court a list and made an attempt to demonstrate how the procedure had not been followed and even while selecting the candidates how the rules and guidelines had been violated. 3. On the contrary, the learned Government Pleader for GAD while pointing out Para Nos.4 and 5, would maintain that in the light of the same, the petitioners are not entitled to any relief whatsoever. 4. The writ petition is filed praying to issue an appropriate Writ, Order or direction, more particularly, one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the respondents in deleting the names of the petitioners from the list of selected candidates of APIIT, though the names of the petitioners find place at Sl.Nos.73 and 127 respectively in the Master Application List prepared by the very same respondents, as being illegal, arbitrary, unjust, discriminatory and in utter violation of the principles of natural justice, and consequently direct the respondents herein to admit the petitioners herein in the APIIIT course in pursuance of the Master Applications List. 5. It is stated that the petitioner No.1 herein passed S.S.C., Examination in the year 2009 from Z.P.H.S. Shaligouraram Village and Mandal, Nalgonda District and secured 91.3% and the petitioner No.2 passed S.S.C., examination from Z.P.H.S., Bujilapur Village, Mothkur Mandal, Nalgonda District and secured 90.2%. It is also stated that both the petitioners stood toppers in the respective Mandals in girls. 6. Further it is stated that the 1st respondent herein established Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies in the year 2008 to cater to the educational needs of the meritorious youth of APIIIT established and the intake of each is 2000 per year. It is submitted that as per the Eligibility and Selection Criteria for admission, the applicant should have passed Secondary School Certificate (10th Standard) or equivalent examination in first attempt in that academic year from the State of Andhra Pradesh. There will be no entrance examination and admission will be strictly based on student performance in the SSC or other equivalent Board examinations and the seats will be allocated based on Mandal best criteria, and accordingly, the respondent- authorities have sent the prescribed application to the eligible candidates. Accordingly, the petitioners herein have submitted their respective applications, which are allotted numbers as 119463 and 119936. 7. It is also stated that subsequently the respondent- University has prepared Master Applications List in which the name of the petitioners herein are shown at Sl.Nos.73 and 127 respectively. It is submitted that though the petitioners are topper in their respective Mandals and the respondent-University had rightly prepared the Master Applications List wherein the names of the petitioners stand at Sl.Nos.73 and 127 respectively and the petitioners are with a fond hope that they would select for admission into APIIIT. 8. It is further stated that subsequently, the respondent authorities displayed a list of selected candidates for admission into the APIIIT, but the names of the petitioners are deleted from the said list. I submit that questioning the irregularities committed in the process of selection, the petitioner No.1 herein submitted a representation on 14.8.2009 bringing it to the notice of the respondent- authorities about the selection of the candidates, who secured less marks than the petitioners herein and requested to enquire into the matter and to render justice. 9. It is also stated that in spite of receipt of the representation dated 14.8.2009, the respondents did not consider the same and the respondents are proceeding with the admission of the candidates from 14.9.2009, and if the process of admission is completed, without taking any action on the representation dated 14.8.2009, manifest injustice will be caused to the petitioners and they will suffer serious loss and hardship and the very purpose of filing the writ petition will be defeated and the irregularities committed by the respondents in the process of admission will not come out. 10. In the counter affidavit filed by the respondent No.2, 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, there shall be an apex body for all governance of the constituent institutions 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 institutes. The powers of 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 admission 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. 11. 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 A.P. 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. 12. In the counter affidavit, the stand taken by the respondent No.2 that as per the information furnished by the District Information System for School Education (DISE), the first petitioner (Roll No.26110145) studied in Z.P.H.School, Shaligoraram and the second petitioner (Roll No.26126555) studied in Z.P.H.School, Bujilapuram. Both the petitioners belong to OC category under Rural area in Government Management School. 13. It is also further stated that according to the admission procedure, the 1st petitioner can only be considered for admission in Rural 85% seats, from Shaligouraram Mandal, Nalgodna District, in Government Management under OC Category. The last selected candidate has got 92.5 percentage, whereas the 1st petitioner secured 91.3% only, and the second petitioner can only be considered for admission in Rural 85% seats, from Mothkur Mandal of Nalgonda District in Government Management under O.C category. The last selected candidate has got 90.5%, whereas the 2nd petitioner secured 90.2% only. Hence, the petitioners would not be selected. 14. The objections, which had been specified in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition and also in the representation dated 14.8.2009, if considered, the petitioners may get admission. However, this Court is not inclined to express any opinion relating to this aspect. 15. However, in the light of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, I am inclined to dispose of the writ petition directing the respondents to reconsider the case of the petitioners also in accordance with the Rules and Guidelines governing the field, within a period of two weeks, at any rate preferably before the end of III Phase of the counseling. 16. The Writ Petition is disposed of accordingly. No order as to costs. ____________________ ( P . S . N A Date:23.09.2009 mrb