July 1: The Bombay High Court has upheld the principle of `regional preference' in medical colleges, thereby denying admission to four students who had passed their matriculation from outside Maharashtra.

The division bench of Justice Ashok Agarwal and S D Gundewar ruled that regional reservations/preference cannot be considered violative of the Article 14 of Constitution of India. ``If the petitioners were granted admission, despite rules laid down by the state government, rightful candidates from Maharashtra would have been deprived of medical education,'' the ruling said.

The bench cited an earlier Supreme Court verdict (Jagdish Saran vs Union of India) which stated that regional preference during admissions is not violative of Constitutional provisions. The students from outside the state are granted a special quota of 15 per cent seats. Therefore, they cannot apply in the 85 per cent open category. Otherwise, it will be unfair to the local candidates for whom the rules are framed.

The four student petitioners sought admission in medical and dental colleges of Maharashtra. The students, namely Vinay Bhatt, Sumit Asrani, Arti Nankani and Moiz Ali Mohammed Hussain had passed their SSC exams from outside Maharashtra. But, they pleaded to be as considered as locals since they had passed Standard XII (HSC) exam from the state. They filed the petition stating that they feared to be declared ineligible for admission due to the amended the medical college rules. The state government issued amended rules in May 1996, whereby eligible candidates need to pass their SSC and HSC exam from the same state where they are seeking admission for medical courses. The first three petitioners were earlier granted interim relief of provisional admission on June 27. However, this relief was revoked in the next hearing and the judges dismissed the four petitions.

Advocate E P Bharucha, ZB Kamdin, Ishwar J Namkin and P S Cardozo appeared for the petitioners. The state government and other respondents were represented by Usha Purohit.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.