IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 15585 of 2008 Between: 1 D. subhasri D/o D. Venkateshwarlu Minor rep by her father and natural guardian D.Venkateshwarlu S/o Somaiah aged about 48 years occ Coolie, R/o Rajole Village, Kuravi mandal, Warangal District. 2 Dharavath Naresh S/o Dharavath Venkata Rao Minor rep by father and natural guardian Dharavath Venkat Rao S/o Lal Singh aged 50years occ: Agriculture,, R/o Rajole Village, Kuravi mandal, Warangal District. ..... PETITIONER(S) AND 1 State of Andhra Pradesh rep by its Secretary, Department of Higher Education, A.P. Secretariat, Saifabad, hdyerabad. 2 Rajeev Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, IIIT Campus, Gatchibowli, Near Hitech City, Hyderbad, rep by its Vice chancellore. 3 The District Education Officer, Government of A.P., Warangal District.z 4 The Revenue Divisional Officer, Mahabubnagar Division, Warangal District. .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 an appropriate Writ or order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in not selecting the petitioners for giving admission into IIIT course for the academic year 2008-09 though the 1st petitioner secured 511 marks, and petitioner got 392 marks and ﬁrst and second toppers in Kuravi mandal, Warangal District, as illegal, arbitrary and volatile of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and contrary to the Rules and Regulations of the 2nd respondent's University and consequently direct the respondents to give admission to the petitioners into IIIT course for the year 2008-09 and pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.A.PRABHAKAR RAO Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR HIGHER EDUCATION The Court made the following : O R D E R: 1. This Writ Petition has been ﬁled by the petitioners- D.Subhasri and Dharavath Naresh assailing the action of R1 to R4 in denying admission into IIIT course in Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies for the academic year 2008-09. 2. Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (for short University) has been established as an autonomous organization by Government of Andhra Pradesh under the Act called The Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies Act, 2008 (Act 18 of 2008) to educate the gifted rural students who may not have the beneﬁt of special coaching classes. The selection of students for admission into IIT course in the University is based on the Local Best Model at the Mandal level. There are 6000 seats in all the three institutions of the University. 85 percent of the seats are reserved for students from rural schools of Andhra Pradesh, 15 % seats are earmarked for meritorious students at State level. 900 seats are proposed to be ﬁlled up on the basis of statewide merit; 486 seats from open category, 135 from SC category, and 54 from ST category, 63 seats from BC-A category, 90 seats from BC-B category, 9 seats from BC-C category and 63 seats from BC-D category. The remaining 5100 seats are earmarked for rural students and these seats are allotted to 23 districts taking the population of the district as criteria. Accordingly, 232 seats have been allotted to Warangal District. 3. The 1st petitioner studied in Zilla Parishad, ZPP Secondary School at Rajole, Kuravi Mandal, Warangal District. He passed Xth class in first division with Hall Ticket No.1039015 and secured 511 marks. She belongs to BC-B category. She stood ﬁrst in Kuravi mandal. The 2nd petitioner studied in ZPP Secondary School, Kuravi Mandal, Warangal District and passed Xth class in ﬁrst division with Hall Ticket No.1039983 and stood second in the merit list of the school as well as the mandal. He belongs to S.T. community. The petitioners claim that they are entitled to get admission into IIIT course in the 2nd respondent- University for the academic year 2008-09. According to them, the students selected from Kuravi mandal for admission to IIIT Course of the University are less meritorious. For better understanding of the grievance of the petitioners, I deem it appropriate to refer the relevant portion of para 7 of the writ affidavit and it is thus: “ 7……..The students selected from Kuravi Mandal in IIIT course are furnished as a material papers. The particulars of the students who were given admission in IIIT course are mentioned hereunder: 1. Kotamarithi Sandeep, S/o Venkanna, secured 448 marks in SSC with Hall Ticket No.1069676 who belongs to Kuravi mandal. 2. Boda Beekoji, s/o Boda Chandu secured 489 marks in SSC with Hall Ticket No.1070174 who belongs to Kuravi mandal. I submit that we had submitted representation to the respondents herein requesting them to give admission in IIIT course, it is also stated in the representation that the respondent authorities committed irregularities in selecting the students for giving admission into IIIT course. I submit that the respondents committed grave irregularities in the matter of selection of the students for giving admission. The procedure adopted by the respondents in identifying the students for giving admission into IIIT course is only illegal and contrary to the procedure laid down by the 1st and 2nd respondents.” 4. The respondents entered appearance and ﬁled their counter aﬃdavit. The admission procedure has been detailed in the counter affidavit, which reads as under: Admission Procedure: 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 A.P. 2. The total intake of the students from Andhra Pradesh will be 6000 at the rate of 2000 per each institute at Basara, Idupulapaya and Nuzivedu. 3. There will be no entrance examination and admission will be strictly based on student’s performance in the SSC examination. 4. Out of the total number of seats, 15 % of seats (as per the Presidential Order),i.e. 300 seats per institute will be open for state level toppers irrespective of their region, rural/urban background, category etc., while respecting the reservation norms. 5. In order to promote national integration and promote diversity, about 100 seats per institute (over and above 2000) seats will be open for other state students and admission will be on the basis of their combined merit in the State Board/AIEEE and interview. Preference will be given to the students coming from rural areas of the country. 6. For 85% of the seats, a region wise allocation will be as per the provisions of Presidential Order and based on the Census 2001. Accordingly, the region wise allocation is as follows: Coastal Andhra-42%, Rayalaseema-22 % and Telangana-36 %. 7. The region wise allocation will be proportionately distributed among the districts and further among Rural Mandals as per the share of their population vis-à-vis the district based on the 2001 census. The Tables below show the seat allocation by region and by district for each reservation category. 8. Seats in the district will be divided amongst all educational institutes (government/local bodies, aided and private) located in rural mandals subject to the condition that not more than one student from each category will be selected per school. 9. The category wise reservation of seats will be BC-25%, SC-15%, ST-6% and Open-54 %. BC category will be further subdivided into subcategories as per Government Order, 33 percent of the seats in each category will be reserved for women candidates. 10. Rural Mandal is taken as a unit in selection of suitable candidates. 11. Assignments to Mandals may often lead to fractional seats. These fractions are added with other neighbouring Mandals until a single seat can be allotted to a group of Mandals. 12. The top student from each school in a rural mandal is selected. The best student is deﬁned to be the top student in more subjects than his/her classmates in the same school. 13. The selection of best student is based on the principle of grading on the curve. The principle of grading on the curve works as follows: The top 3% of the students in each school in a given subject is given Grade A+ (4 points); the next 7% is given Grade A (3 points), the next 10% is given Grade A(2 points), and the next 30% is given a Grade B (1 point). A cumulative Grade Point Score is calculated by adding the scores for all the subjects for each student in every school. 14. The Grade Point Score for all the students in the State is computed. The State wide Merit List candidates are selected representing the best students in each reservation category across the State. 15. When two or more students are the best students in the same number of subjects, then a tie-breaking procedure is applied as follows: (maximum points a student can get is 24). We ﬁrst select students who have the maximum number of subjects with 4 points). i) If there is more than 1 student who has the maximum number of subjects with 4 points, e.g., 2 students with 4 points in three subjects, then we break this tie by selecting the one with maximum Grade Point Score. ii) If there is further tie, that is they have same number of subjects with 4 points and Grade Point Score, e.g., 4 points in three subjects and 3 points in 1 subject, then we select the one with highest number of marks in English. iii) If there is further tie, then we select the one with highest number of marks in Mathematics. iv) If there is further tie, then we select the one with highest number of marks in Sciences. v) If there is further tie, then we select the one with highest number of total marks., vi) If there is a further tie, the older student (in age) will be selected. 16. After 900 students for the State-wide Merit list are identiﬁed, we proceed with the allocation of the remaining 85% of the seats. First, we identify the top student in each school within the Mandal, using the above tie breaking procedure where needed. From the top students in each school in the Mandal, the best students in the Mandal are selected based on Grade Point Score procedure as before. After the open category candidates are identiﬁed, selection is made in each reservation category based on merit within the category. Students are compared using the same criteria, i.e., one or more students with the largest number of A+s are selected (no more than one per school) based on number of seats assigned to the mandal, again using the tie breaking procedure, if necessary. At most 4 candidates, one each in OC, BC, SC and ST, can be selected from any given school. 17. The unselected best candidates in a mandal in each category will be added to a waitlist to be used in case a selected candidate does not apply. 5. Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and learned Government Pleader for I.T. appearing for the respondents. 6. The principal grievance of the petitioners is that the respondents considered them as students belonging to Mahaboobabad mandal and whereas the schools where they pursued their SSC fall within Kuravi mandal. 7. Learned Government Pleader appearing for the respondents submits that even if 2nd petitioner is considered as a student of the school located in Kuravi mandal, he is not the LOCAL BEST STUDENT and therefore no relief can be granted to 2nd petitioner. 8. The respondents ﬁled additional counter aﬃdavit detailing the grade score points secured by the petitioners. 9. A fact remains that the petitioners have been considered as students studied in Mahaboobabad Mandal. It is the assertion of the petitioners that the schools where they studied come within Kuravi Mandal. 10. In that view of the matter, this writ petition is disposed of directing the petitioners to make a representation to 2nd respondent with necessary proof that the schools where they pursued SSC come within the purview of Kuravi Mandal. Thereupon, the 2nd respondent shall consider the representation and pass appropriate orders. The petitioners shall make their representations within a week from today and thereupon the 2nd respondent shall consider their representations and pass appropriate orders within two weeks thereafter. No costs. 17th September, 2008. (B.Seshasayana Reddy,J) cc in three days. tnb ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{TRT} THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO.15585 OF 2008 17T H SEPTEMBER 2008