IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY NINTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 15043 of 2009 Between: Mohd. Ahmed Mustafa S/o. M.A. Quader, R/o. H.No. 5/7/410, Tek ki Masjid, Mallepally, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Convenor ICET 2009, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. 2 A.P.State Council of Higher Education Hyderabad- Sifabad, Hyderabad. 3 Chief Verification Officer / Principal Qulu Qutub Shah Government, Polytechnic, Hyderabad. .....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 and order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction, holding the rejection of my application on 20-07-2009 for admission in MBA for the academic year 2009-10 by the 3rd Respondent is illegal, arbitrary and against Guideline No.III (ii) of Guidelines for admission into MBA / MCA profession courses G.O.Ms.No. 59 Higher Education ( EC ) Department dated 26-05-2006 and consequently direct the Respondents to admit the Petitioner in MBA course for the year 2009-2010 within the jurisdiction of Osmania University. Counsel for the Petitioner : MR. M.A.BARI Counsel for the Respondents: MR. M.V.RAJA RAAM The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE Ms. JUSTICE G. ROHINI WRIT PETITION No.15043 OF 2009 ORDER : The petitioner who passed B.Com. (Hons.) in first division has appeared for ICET-2009 conducted by the 1st respondent for the purpose of admission into MBA course. He secured the rank of 30430 and appeared for the counselling held by the 3rd respondent on 20.7.2009. However, he was rejected admission on the ground that he had not secured 35% marks in ICSE Examination in Mathematics. Aggrieved by the said action, this writ petition is filed. As per the Statutory Rules made under G.O.Ms.No.59, Higher Education (EC) Department, dated 26.5.2006, relating to the admissions into MBA/MCA professional courses, eligibility criteria for admission runs under : III. Eligibility Criteria for admission: The eligibility criteria for admission into post graduate courses of MBA/MCA shall be as mentioned below: (i) The candidate should be a Indian National. (ii) (a) The candidates seeking admission into MBA course should have passed a Bachelors Degree Examination of not less than three years duration from any recognized University or equivalent thereof besides passing SSC or equivalent examination with Mathematics as one of the subjects. (emphasis supplied) Provided that a candidate who appeared for the final year Degree examination shall also be eligible to appear for ICET and ICET-AC. It is not in dispute that the petitioner had passed Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) Examination which is equivalent to SSC and secured a pass certificate. Thereafter, he did B.Com. (Hons.) before appearing for the ICET-2009. It is also not in dispute that though the petitioner studied Mathematics as one of the subjects in ICSE, he had secured only 28% as against the minimum 35%. However, the petitioner was awarded a pass certificate since as per the procedure being followed by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination, New Delhi, the candidates are eligible for a pass certificate if they attained pass standard in at least 5 subjects which must include the subject English. The petitioner attained pass standard in English, Hindi, History, Science and Computer Science and therefore though he could not attain pass marks in Mathematics he was awarded the pass certificate in ICSE. It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that as per the Rules for admission into MBA/MCA courses, it is sufficient if a candidate studied Mathematics as one of the subjects in ICSE which is equivalent to SSC and it is not necessary to secure a pass mark in Mathematics. It is contended that the 3rd respondent had misinterpreted the Rules for admission into Postgraduate courses of MBA/MCA and had erroneously rejected the admission to the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner had secured only 28% in Mathematics at SSC level. Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioner in detail and having perused the material on record, I do not find substance in any of the contentions raised in the writ petition. A reading of the Rule extracted above shows that a pass in SSC or equivalent examination with Mathematics as one of the subjects is mandatory. In the light of the clear and unambiguous language of the above said Rule, the contention of the petitioner that securing a pass mark of 35% in Mathematics is not contemplated under the Statutory Rules is untenable. May be that, the petitioner was awarded the pass certificate in ICSE notwithstanding the fact that he did not secure pass mark in Mathematics, however it does not mean that he passed ICSE with Mathematics as one of the subjects. Mere studying Mathematics as one of the subjects is not sufficient for admission into MBA but what is required under the Statutory Rule is passing SSC or equivalent examination with Mathematics. Since the petitioner had admittedly did not possess the said qualification of passing SSC or equivalent examination with Mathematics as one of the subjects, he was rightly denied admission into MBA. Accordingly, the Writ Petition, which is devoid of any merit, is hereby dismissed. No costs. ______________ G. ROHINI,J. Dt. 29.07.2009 gbs