Summary
The Court upheld Bihar’s medical-admission allocation method where a meritorious reserved-category candidate chose a college seat earmarked for that category. The candidate remained counted in the open category, and the affected lower-ranked reserved candidate could take the general-category college choice left available, preserving the reservation percentage.
Issues
- How college choices should be allocated when a reserved-category candidate qualifying on open merit chooses a reserved-category seat in medical admissions.
Held
- A meritorious reserved candidate may choose a seat earmarked for the candidate’s category to avoid disadvantage compared with less meritorious candidates, while continuing to count as an open-category candidate for reservation purposes. (¶¶ 7–8, 13–14)
- The reserved-category candidate losing a college choice because of that option may be accommodated in the choice left by the meritorious candidate in the general pool, while remaining counted in the reserved category. Under this allocation, the number of seats counted in each category and the fifty per cent reservation limit remained undisturbed. (¶ 12–15)
- Ritesh R. Sah governed medical admissions. Ramesh Ram concerned allocation to different civil services under their examination rules and was distinguished; its treatment of migration did not govern this medical-admission dispute. (¶¶ 9–10, 16)
Result
Appeals dismissed without costs; the Full Bench’s conclusions on the medical-admission allocation method upheld.