PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has quashed and set aside a decision of the Goa government to reserve 41 per cent of the State quota seats in post-graduate courses at the Goa Medical College and the Goa Dental College in favor of ST, SC, and OBC categories from the academic year 2021-2022 after holding that the decision making process was deeply flawed.
Through an order dated 04.05.2020 the Goa government sought to implement for the first time, reservations to the Postgraduate Courses at GMC to the extent of 41% in favour of ST (12%); SC (2%) and OBC (27%) from this academic year i.e. 2021-2022.
The decision was taken ostensibly based on recommendations made by the Goa Commission for SC and ST vide order dated 22.04.2020 and by the Goa State Commission for Backward Classes vide order dated 16.03.2020 recommending reservations to postgraduate courses at GMC for the academic year 2020-2021.
Hearing a petition filed by more than 100 doctors and medical students, the High Court ruled that the State government was going against its own rules which stated that reservations to post graduate courses were to the extent that persons from reserved categories were eligible for a lower cutoff marks for entry into post graduate courses.
On September 7, 2007, the government reserved 12% of total seats in all educational institutions for Scheduled Tribes with immediate effect. On January 22, 2014, the government issued a notification to enhance the percentage of reservations for OBC from existing 19.5% to 27%. This was to apply among other things for admissions in the Government/Government aided institutions.
Based on the aforesaid, reservations were provided for PG courses in all educational institutions except GMC and GDC for all these years. It is by the decision dated 04.05.2020 (which was challenged by the doctors in the present petition) that 41% of the total available State quota seats are to be reserved in favour of SC, ST, and OBC candidates from the academic year 2021-2022 for the first time.
The High Court questioned why GMC and GDC were left out, however there was “no explanation forthcoming in the affidavit filed on behalf of the government as to why no seats were reserved for the postgraduate courses in GMC and GDC despite its contention that the notifications of 2007 and 2014 provided for the same.
While noting that there was “an attempt to downplay this long period of over 14 years” (since 2007 when the first notification making 12% reservations in all education institutions for STs mandatory and the government’s recent decision to implement reservations in GMC), the High Court said there was no cogent explanation why the state government decided to belatedly rise up after 14 years to implement the decision.
The High Court also pointed out that the Goa (Rules for admission to Postgraduate Degree and Diploma Courses of the Goa University at the GMC) Rules, 2004, which provide admissions to the State quota state that seats will be offered “strictly on the basis of merit cum choice of the candidate”.
“There is no provision for reservations in the said rules but rule 3(3)(v) did provide that for admission to the PG courses, the candidates belonging to the general category will be required to obtain a minimum of 50%, and the candidates belonging to ST, SC and OBC will be required to obtain a minimum of 40% aggregate marks to be determined according to the said rules. Thus limited benefit granted by the said rules to the reserved category candidates was a relaxation in the minimum aggregate marks. But, there was no provision for reservations as such. Instead, the said rules clearly provided that the admissions to the PG courses will be strictly on the basis of merit cum choice of the candidate,” the High Court noted.
The High Court said that no explanation was offered why the government changed its mind and didn’t adequately justify its decision to overrule the Rules for Admission to PG courses in GMC and GDC other than claim it was bound to do so because of its own notification to implement reservations in all educational institutions.
“This is a case where the impugned decision has been taken without any application of mind. The State Government, quite incorrectly felt itself to be bound by its policy decision reflected in the notifications issued almost 14 years ago and based thereon refused to apply its mind to a host of relevant considerations which it was bound to advert to and bestow some serious consideration,” the High Court bench of Justices M S Sonak and M S Jawalkar, said.
“The failure to advert to or to take into account vital and relevant considerations which the decision-maker was bound to, renders the impugned decision unreasonable and arbitrary. Such a serious decision to reserve 41% of the State quota seats to PG courses at GMC ought to have preceded by application of mind to a host of relevant considerations referred to in a plethora of decisions of the Supreme Court on the subject as well as the considerations flagged by the Dean of GMC in his letter/notings dated 16.03.2020. For all these reasons as well, the impugned decision is vitiated and liable to be struck down,” the High Court said.
The High Court also struck down the recommendations by the Goa Commission for SC/ST and the Goa State Commission for OBC which recommended that the reservations be implemented.
“In so far as the recommendations of the Goa Commission for SC/ST as recorded in its order dated 13.03.2020 and 22.04.2020 are concerned, they are liable to be set aside because they were made in an extremely hurried, casual, and cavalier manner, without even a semblance of application of mind,” the High Court said.
“The recommendations were made without even issuing any notice to the parties that were likely to be affected or in any case without even bothering to hear the version of the State Government or more particularly the Deans of GMC and GDC,” the High Court also said.
