IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 14496 of 2008 Between: Venku Surendra Kumar,(SSC Marks 568) S/o.V.Vemkateswarlu R/o.H.No.8-7-92,Raja Veedhi, Allagadda Mandal Kurnool District,being minor rep by his natural guardian Father V.Venkateswarlu ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Govt of AP., rep.by its Principal Secretary Higher Education Dept., secretariat, Hyderabad 2 Rajeev Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies IIIT Campus, Gachibowli,Near High Tech city, Hyderabad rep.by its Vice Chancellor 3 Rajeev Gandhi University of Knowledge, Technologies (IIIT) O/o.C&D.S.E., Higher Education Masab Tank, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, rep.by its State Project officer/ Dean, 4 The District Educational Officer,Kurnool District Kurnool .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the action of the respondents in not selecting petitioner for admission into IIIT course in "Rajeev Gandhi University Knowledge Technologies " (RGUKT) for the year 2008-09 though petitioner got 568 marks in SSC examination and selecting the other candidates who secured less marks than petitioner son in Oravakal Mandal, Kurnool District, is illegal, arbitrary, unjust and violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to select petitioner for admission into IIIT course for the year 2008-09 with all consequential beneﬁts as otherwise petitioner will suffer serious loss and great hardship. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.CHALLA SIVASANKAR Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. The Court made the following : ORDER: This writ petition has been ﬁled by Venku Surendra Kumar rep. by his father V.Venkateswarlu assailing the action of the respondents in denying selection to him for admission into IIIT course 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 seats from SC category, and 54 seats 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, 275 seats have been allotted to Kurnool District. 3. The petitioner studied SSC in A.P. Residential School (Boys), Kalvabugga, Oravakal Mandal, Kurnool District. He appeared for SCC examination with Roll No.0636248 in March, 2008. He secured 568 marks out of 600 and stood as a ﬁrst ranker in the school as well as the Mandal. The petitioner belongs to BC-A category. He claims seat on the basis of marks secured by him in SSC examination. 4. Rule Nisi came to be issued on 08-07-2008. 5. 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. 6. The petitioner made representation to the 2nd respondent University. The 2nd respondent University considered the representation of the petitioner and informed him the reasons for non-inclusion of his name in the selected list. Reasons communicated to the petitioner read as hereunder: “ Given the principles of admission stated above, we regret to inform that Vanku Surendra Kumar IS NOT selected to RGU IIITs. Surendra belongs to BC-A category from Allagadda Mandal of Kurnool district. It has been necessary to group multiple mandals into a single mandal group, since the number of seats available in the BC-A category in Kurnool district is only 17 (as listed in the Brochure) distributed over 50-70 mandals. The group of mandals that Allagadda belongs to are KALLUR, ORAVAKAL, PEDDAKADABUR. Surendra Kumar stands in the SEVENTH place in his category, whereas only one could be selected. He is the top student in only three subjects and has the grade point score of 18. The selected student Boya Sivudu from the same group of mandals is the top student in ALL the subjects with the grade point score of 24. Surendra Kumar is the top student in only THREE subjects with the grade point score of 18 as shown in the scores below: Subjects L1 L2 L3 MA SC SO TOT Marks 92 92 91 98 96 99 568 Grade Points 1 4 3 2 4 4 18 For example, the selected candidate Boya Sivudu is the top student in ALL the subjects with the grade point score of 24 as shown in the scores below: Subjects L1 L2 L3 MA SC SO TOT Marks 90 67 80 93 91 93 514 Grade Points 4 4 4 4 4 4 24 7. Heard learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and learned Government Pleader for Information Technology appearing for respondent Nos.1 to 4. 8. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the petitioner secured 568 marks out of 600 marks and he stood as No.1 in the school as well as in the mandal and therefore he is entitled to a seat in IIIT course for the academic year 2008- 09. He also submits that selecting less meritorious students for admission into IIIT is arbitrary, illegal and opposed to the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. He took me to the memorandum of marks of the petitioner issued by Board of Secondary Education. 9. Learned Government Pleader for Information Technology appearing for the respondents submits that the selection of candidates for admission into IIIT is based on grade points score and not on the marks secured in SSC examination. He took me to the admission procedure prescribed in the prospectus of the University for the year 2008-09. He also took me to the grading points secured by the petitioner and one Boya Sivudu to contradict the contention of the petitioner that he is the best student in the group of mandals. 10. The admission procedure is transparent with regard to the selection of top student in the school. Selection of top student in the school is based on the principle of grading on the curve. 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. 11. The contention of the petitioner that he is the best student in the group mandals can be negatived by comparing the grade score points secured by the petitioner and the grade score points secured by Boya Sivudu. As per the table indicated in para 6, the petitioner secured A+ (4 points) in three subjects and whereas Boya Sivudu secured A+ (4 points) in ALL subjects. As per the admission procedure, a student who has the maximum number of subjects with A+ (4 points) is to be preferred. In comparison of the petitioner with Boya Sivudu, latter is to be preferred since he secured more number of subjects with A+ (4 points). Therefore, I do not see any substance in the contention of the petitioner that seat has been denied to him in spite of his being the top student in the school. 12. Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed. No costs. ______________________ B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J. Date:16th September, 2008. cs ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{RS}