Case: SHRI KSHETRIMAYUM MAHESHKUMAR SINGH AND ANR Vs. THE MANIPUR UNIVERSITY AND ORS

2. To contextualize the issue raised in the present appeal, it is necessary to briefly refer to the relevant facts of the case. Respondent no. 1- University was initially established as a State University under the Manipur University Act, 1980 that came into force on 05th June, 1980. In the year 2005, the Manipur University Act was legislated, whereafter respondent No. 1 – University was converted from a State University to a Central University w.e.f. 13th October, 2005. On 04th January, 2007, the Reservation Act was notified. Section 3 of the said Act prescribed reservation of seats in the Central Educational Institutions and laid down as follows:3. Reservation of seats in Central Educational Institutions. –The reservation of seats in admission and its extent in a Central Educational Institution shall be provided in the following manner, namely:-i out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty, fifteen per cent. seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes;ii out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty, seven and one-half per cent. seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes;iii. out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty, twenty-seven per cent. seats shall be reserved for the Other Backward Classes.3. The expression out of the annual permitted strength referred to in Section 3 above, has been defined in Section 2(b) in the following words:In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-xxx xxx xxxb. annual permitted strength means the number of seats, in a course or programme for teaching or instruction in each branch of study or faculty authorised by an appropriate authority for admission of students to a Central Educational Institution;xxx xxx xxx4. From the academic year 2009-10 onwards, respondent No. 1 – University started following the reservation norms as prescribed in the Reservation Act. On 20th June, 2012, the aforesaid Statute was amended by virtue of the Amendment Act and as a result of the said amendment, Clauses (ia) and (ib) were inserted in Section 2, i.e. the definition clause and two provisos were inserted in Section 3. Further, Clause (a) of Section 4 was omitted and sub-sections (1) and (2) of Section 5 were amended. The aforesaid Amendment Act, 2012 that forms the bedrock of the grievance raised in the present appeal, is extracted below for ready reference:THE CENTRAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS(RESERVATION IN ADMISSION) AMENDMENTNO. 31 OF 2012 [19th June, 2012]An Act to amend the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 Be it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-third Year of the Republic of India as follows: -SECTION - 1. Short title.-This Act may be called the Central Educational institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012.SECTION - 2. Amendment of section 2 -In section 2 of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 (5 of 2007) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), after clause (i), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:-(ia) Specified north-eastern region means the area comprising of the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and the tribal areas of Assam referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution;(ib) State seats, in relation to a Central Educational Institution, means such seats, if any, out of the annual permitted strength in each branch of study or faculty as are earmarked to be filled from amongst the eligible students of the State in which such institution is situated;SECTION -3. Amendment of section 3.- In section 3 of the principal Act, the following provisos shall be inserted, namely:-Provided that the State seats, if any, in a Central Educational Institution situated in the tribal areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution shall be governed by such reservation policy for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes, as may be specified, by notification in the Official Gazette, by the Government of the State where such institution is situated:Provided further that if there are no State seats in a Central Educational Institution and the seats reserved for the Scheduled castes exceed the percentage specified under clause (i) or the seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes exceed the percentage specified under clause (ii) or the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes taken together exceed the sum of percentages specified under clauses (i) and (ii), but such seats are-(a) less than fifty per cent. of the annual permitted strength on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of this Act, the total percentage of the seats required to be reserved for the Other Backward Classes under clause (iii) shall be restricted to the extent such sum of percentages specified under clauses (i) and (ii) falls short of fifty per cent. of the annual permitted strength,;(b) more than fifty per cent. of the annual permitted strength on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of this Act, in that case no seat shall be reserved for the Other Backward Classes under clause (iii) but the extent of the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall not be reduced in respect of Central Educational Institutions in the specified north-eastern region..SECTION - 4. Amendment of section 4.-In section 4 of the principal Act, clause (a) shall be omitted.SECTION - 5. Amendment of section 5.-In section 5 of the principal Act,- (a) in sub-section (1), for the words number of such seats available, the words number of such seats available or actually filled, wherever be less, shall be substituted;(b) in sub-section (2), for the words three years, the words six years shall be substituted.5. Relying on the provision of reservation made under Section 3 of the Reservation Act, Respondent No. 1 – University promulgated Ordinance 5.2, that prescribes rules relating to admission to the University and Ordinance 5.4 deals with reservation of seats and other special provisions for admission to the University, both in the year 2014. Rule 18 of Ordinance 5.2 reads as below:18. 15% of the seats in the academic programmes offered by the University shall be reserved for students belonging to Scheduled Caste, 7-1/2 % for students belonging to Scheduled Tribe and 27% for students belonging to Other Backward Classes.Provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent the University from making special provisions for admission of women, persons with disabilities or of persons belonging to the weaker sections of the society and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the other socially and educationally backward classes of citizens.Provided further that no such special provision shall be made on the ground of domicile.6. While Rule 1 of Ordinance 5.4 deals with reservation of seats, Rule 2 deals with reservation of seats for students belonging to SC & ST categories. Respondent No. 1 – University has stipulated in Rule 2.1 of Ordinance 5.4 as below:2. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes22.5% of seats in all Courses will be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates in the following order:2.1 15% of seats will be reserved for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% Scheduled Tribes. 27% of seats will be reserved for OBC.7. For the academic year 2014-15, respondent No. 1- University issued a prospectus, stating inter alia that seats shall be reserved as per the Government of India norms. In the Press Release dated 24th July, 2014, respondent No. 1 – University clarified that for conducting admissions for the academic year 2014-15, reservation will be provided to the extent of 2% for SC category, 31% for ST category and 17% for OBC category.8. Aggrieved by the denial of admission to them, the appellants, who are candidates belonging to the SC category and had applied for admission in various Post Graduate courses, questioned the purported reduction of the quota for SC category candidates from 15%, as prescribed in Section 3 of the Reservation Act to 2% and filed a writ petition in the High Court of Manipur which was disposed of by the learned Single Judge vide order dated 01st September, 2015, holding inter alia that the percentage of reservation for SC and ST candidates, as was applied to the respondent No. 1 – University prior to the commencement of the Reservation Act, would be adopted for determination of percentage of reservation for the reserved categories in question. It was specifically directed that the percentage of reservation for the students belonging to the SC, ST and OBC categories in the University, would be 2%, 31% and 17% respectively for admission to various courses. However, the Court declined to go into the actual calculation of the seats notified as reserved by the respondent No. 1 – University and confined itself to the principles to be adopted for determination of percentage of reservation of seats on which basis, calculation of the seats had to be made.9. Dissatisfied by the aforesaid judgment dated 01st September, 2015, the appellants filed Writ Appeal No. 40 of 2015 before the High Court of Manipur at Imphal. As no Division Bench was available due to paucity of Judges in the said Court, recourse was taken to filing a Transfer Petition before this Court, which was allowed and the captioned writ appeal was transferred to the High Court of Meghalaya at Shillong for adjudication by a Division Bench and was re-numbered as Writ Appeal No. 83 of 2016.10. Vide judgment dated 20th April, 2017, the Division Bench of the High Court of Meghalaya remanded the matter back to the learned Single Judge of the Manipur High Court for consideration afresh and called upon the said Court to examine and decide the percentage of reservation for SC, ST and OBC categories in the light of the second proviso to Section 3 of the Reservation Act [as amended vide Amendment Act] and the effect of Ordinance 5.2 and Ordinance 5.4, promulgated by the respondent No. 1 – University. It is on remand that the impugned judgment dated 21st August, 2017 has been passed by the High Court of Manipur, the concluding para whereof is extracted below for ready reference:[71] This Court accordingly, concludes and directs as follows:(i) This Court holds, as also held by Honble Division Bench, that the Second Proviso provides the formulae for working out the percentage of reservation for the OBCs in the Institutions located in the States within the specified north eastern region which is to be worked out on the basis of the figures of percentages for the SCs and STs existing on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Act of 2006.(ii) It is this set of figures of percentages for the SCs and STs existing on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Act of 2006 ascertained and used for working out the percentage of reservation for the OBCs, which would also be the percentages of reservation for admission for the SCs and STs after the amendment of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 by the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012, and the Institute or the Manipur University cannot anymore invoke Clause (i) and (ii) of Section 3 to determine the reservation for the SCs and STs separately.(iii) The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended in the year 2012, does not provide nor the Honble Division Bench had held that, once the aforesaid set of figures of percentages for SCs and STs existing on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Act of 2006 have been ascertained and used for working out the percentage of reservation for the OBCs, this set has to be jettisoned and ignored and the Institute. (Manipur University in this case) can go back to Clauses (i) and (ii) of Section 3 to determine the reservation of reservation for the SCs and STs independent of the figures used under the Second Proviso after the amendment of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 in 2012.Neither the Act, nor the Honble Division Bench has stated that irrespective of the formula for ascertaining the percentage of reservation for the OBCs as provided under the Second Proviso to Section 3 of the Act after the amendment in 2012, the Institute has to apply Clauses (i) and (ii) of Section 3 of the Act to fix the percentage of reservation for the SCs and STs.(iv) Second Proviso was specifically inserted for the Central Educational Institutions located in the specified North Eastern Region for protecting the interest of STs, particularly as evident from the Clause (b) of the Second Proviso. It protects the interest of the STs wherever, their percentage of reservation is more than what is prescribed under Clause (ii) of Section 3 of the Act. The Act specifically provides that even if the extent of reservation of seats of the STs & SCs exceed 50% of the annual permitted strength on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Act, there shall not be reservation for the OBCs under Clause (3) but, the extent of reservation of seats for STs & SCs shall not be reduced.(v) The Institute has to determine the percentages of reservation for admission for the SCs, STs and OBCs on the basis of the Central Educational institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended in 2012 and not on the basis of any other statute. In the present case, the Manipur University has to fix the percentages of reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs on the basis of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended in 2012 and not on the basis of Section 31(1)(a) or any other provision of the Manipur University Act, 2005 as the Manipur University Act is no more the source of authority for determining the percentages of reservation after the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006.(vi) The reservation norm has to be adopted by the Manipur University by referring to the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended by the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012 only and by not referring to any provision of the Manipur University Act, 2005.(vii) Accordingly, any Statute or Ordinance or any rule or notification fixing the percentage of reservation for admission framed/issued by the Manipur University has to conform to the aforesaid norm of 2% for the Scheduled Castes, 31 % for the Scheduled Tribes and 17% for the Other Backward Classes worked out and ascertained in terms of the Second Proviso to Section 3 of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended in 2012. Any other norm not conforming to the above will be invalid being in contravention of the Central Education Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 as amended in 2012.(viii) Ordinances 5.2 and 5.4 made by the Manipur University as far as determining the percentages of reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs are concerned, are not valid. Hence, these have no value, worth or effect as far as the issue of determination of the percentages of reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs in Manipur University is concerned.(ix) In any event, it has not been shown by these Ordinances, how the Manipur University had fixed the percentage of reservation for the OBCs at 27% in the face of the formulae specifically provided under the Second Proviso for working out the percentage of reservation for the OBCs and also for the SCs and STs. To that extent, these Ordinances also suffer from the vice of arbitrariness.(x) The validity of these Ordinances relating to other matters, other than fixation of percentage of reservation for admission of students, not being an issue in this petition, is left open to be decided in appropriate case.(xi) Before the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, Manipur University was following the reservation norm of 2% for the Scheduled Castes, 31 % for the Scheduled Tribes and 17% for the Other Backward Classes.(xii) After the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, Manipur University started following the reservation norm as per Clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) of Section 3 of the Act to the extent of 15% for the Scheduled Castes, 7.5% for the Scheduled Tribes, and 27% for the Other Backward Classes from the academic year 2009-2010.(xiii) After the amendment of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 in 2012 introduced by the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Amendment Act, 2012, Manipur University has to follow the reservation norm of 2% for the Scheduled castes, 31 % for the Scheduled Tribes and 17% for the Other Backward Classes.

Court's reasoning:
24. It is noteworthy that the Division Bench of the High Court of Meghalaya did discuss the 234th Report at page 24 of the judgment dated 20th April, 2017, in the context of the reasons offered by the learned Single Judge in the earlier judgment dated 1st September, 2015 wherein it was held that by an inference drawn from the said Report, one could determine the percentage of reservation for SC and ST candidates for purposes of applying the second proviso inserted in Section 3 of the Parent Act post- amendment, but the appellate court was not persuaded by the said logic.25. It is no longer res integra that Reports and recommendations made by the Parliamentary Committees/Commissions that precede enactment of a Statute can be used as external aids to interpret the meaning of ambiguous words in a statutory provision wherever considered necessary. It can also be taken note of as to the existence of a historical fact. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that such Reports are not decisive and a Court is free to arrive at a different conclusion based on its own findings and other evidence produced by the parties. [Refer State of Mysore v. R.V. Bidap (1974) 3 SCC 337,  R.S. Nayak v. A.R. Antulay (1984) 2 SCC 183  and Kalpana Mehta and Others. v. Union of India and Others (2018) 7 SCC 1] . For our purpose, we do not intend to take notice of the said Report with an idea of determining the extent of reservation for SC and ST candidates in the light of the amendment by way of insertion to Section 3 of the Parent Act. However, the said Report can be treated as a useful tool to fathom the background in which the Amendment Act was introduced and throw light on what had weighed with the legislating authorities in proposing the amendments to the Reservation Act.27. In the aforesaid backdrop, learned counsel for the appellants cannot be heard to state that the amendments brought about in the Reservation Act by legislating the Amendment Act were only directed towards tribal States covered by the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and cannot be made applicable to the State of Manipur, even though the definition of the expression Specified north eastern region introduced by virtue of the amended Section 2(ia) encompasses the State of Manipur. Nor is this Court persuaded by the submission made on behalf of the appellants that the second proviso was inserted in Section 3 only to make sure that the percentage of reservation provided for in Section 3(i) and (ii) of the Parent Act would remain untouched. Accepting such a submission would tantamount to negating the very aim and object of the Amendment Act, which was enacted only to resolve the difficulties that were being faced by the CEIs in implementing the Reservation Act when it came to the North Eastern States, including the State of Manipur. The two provisos inserted in Section 3 of the Parent Act are nothing but a recognition of the demography of the North Eastern States covered under the umbrella of Specified north eastern region which have a substantial tribal population.28. It is in the light of the aforesaid factors that it has been held in the impugned judgment that the respondent No. 1 – University was correct in calculating the extent of reservation of seats in making admissions to different courses, viz., 31% for ST candidates, 2% for SC candidates and 17% for OBC candidates which is in line with the mandate of the Amendment Act.29. It can be understood from the aforesaid averments made in the affidavit that on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Reservation Act, the respondent No. 1 – University had been reserving 2% seats for SC and 31% for ST candidates for purposes of admission.It has been strenuously argued by learned counsel for the appellants that the meaning ascribed to the words date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the 2006 Act, used in Clause (a) of the second proviso to Section 3 should be taken to mean the date just before enactment of the Amendment Act, i.e., a roll back to the situation as was prevalent when the Reservation Act had come into force viz. 15% for SCs, 7.5% for STs and 27% for OBC candidates.In our opinion, any such interpretation would strike at the root of the Amendment Act which was legislated with the sole object of overcoming the ambiguities that had come to the fore on working out the warp and woof of the Reservation Act, namely, the inability to meet the aspirations of a large number of ST candidates looking for opportunities to gain entry in CEIs located in the areas subsequently defined as the Specified north eastern region in the Amendment Act.31. In the instant case, the respondent No.1 – University has clarified in its affidavit that prior to commencement of the Reservation Act, the prevalent percentage of reservation for ST and SC candidates was 31% and 2% respectively. Nothing to the contrary has been brought forth by the appellant. That being the position, we are in complete agreement with the findings returned in the impugned judgment that the respondent No. 1 – University was right in reverting back to the position obtaining immediately before the commencement of the Reservation Act by reserving seats in respect of ST, SC and OBC candidates, pegged at 31%, 2% and 17% respectively which was in consonance with the Manipur State Reservation Policy.32. The submission made by learned counsel for the appellants that the respondent No. 1 – University was under a mandate to follow the norms provided under Clauses (i) and (ii) of Section 3 of the Parent Act while giving a complete go by to the provisos inserted in the said provision by virtue of the Amendment Act which, as per the learned counsel, could be applied only to determine the percentage of seats required to be reserved for OBC candidates, is devoid of merits and turned down. To our mind, the learned Single Judge is perfectly right in making the observation that the formulae for fixing the percentage of reservation for the SC and ST candidates and for determining the percentage of seats to be reserved for OBC candidates under the second proviso of Section 3, ought to be gathered from the same source and any other interpretation would lead to uncertainty.33. To put it differently, the reference point of the period for determining the reservation quota for OBC candidates must be the same as that of the SC and ST candidates for the simple reason that for working out the reservation quota for OBC candidates would necessarily require one to find out in the first instance, as to what would be the difference between 50% of the annual permitted strength and the combined existing percentage for the SC and ST candidates, as obtained on the date immediately preceding the date of commencement of the Reservation Act. Both the issues are so interlaced that to determine the percentage of reservation for OBC candidates, one would have to undertake an exercise of determining the percentage of seats to be reserved for SC and ST candidates, all within the four corners of the second proviso inserted in Section 3 of the Parent Act. Any other interpretation sought to be assigned to the second proviso to Section 3 inserted post-amendment, would make the proviso itself unworkable and redundant and is, therefore, impermissible. Thus, we make it clear that the general rules of reservation have been encapsulated in Clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) of Section 3 of the Parent Act. But when it comes to CEIs established in States falling under the definition of Specified north eastern region, categorized in Section 2(ia) introduced by the Amendment Act, the two new provisos appended to Section 3 would govern the norms of reservation which prescribes a different criteria, vis-à-vis the main provision and would apply irrespective of whether they are situated in areas covered by the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution or not.