ATUL KHULLAR & ORS. ETC. ETC. versus STATE OF J & K AND ORS. ETC. ETC.

Citation: [1986] 2 S.C.R. 560 · Decided: 15-04-1986 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: R.S. PATHAK · Disposal: Dismissed

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Judgment (excerpt)

A 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
560 
A1UL KHllLLAR & ORS. ETC. ETC. 
v. 
STATE OF J & KAND ORS. ETC. ETC. 
APRIL 15, 1986 
[R.S. PATHAK, O. CHINNAPPA REDDY AND R.B. MISRA, JJ.] 
Professional 
Colleges 
Admission 
to 
Medical~ 
Engineering Colleges -
Selection of candidates from backward 
areas/classes - Validity of. Selection Procedure - Allocation 
of only 85 points to written test and 15 points to viva voce -
Whether gives weightage to viva voce over written test. Viva 
voce test -
Reference of components -
Behaviour, physical:-t" 
bearing 
and 
power 
of 
oral 
expression -
Worksheets 
of 
individual members of Selection Committee - Need to maintain~ 
Selection/Nomination of candidates - Relevance of merit in the 
Select List. 
The petitioners challenged the selection of candidates 
for admission to the first year of the MBBS and BOS degrees in 
the Government Medical Colleges at Srinagar and Jallllll, the 
B.E. First Year Course in the Regional Engineering College!.I.. 
Srinagar, and the nominations made by the State Government to"!" 
the Medical and Engineering Colleges outside the State for the 
academic year 1984-85. 
Admission 
to 
these 
courses 
was 
through 
entrance 
examinations consisting of a written test and a viva vocej.... 
test, conducted separately for the medical and engineering 
courses. Under the procedure laid down in the Jamnn & Kashmir-y 
Government Medical Colleges (Selection of Candidates for 
Admission to the First Year MBBS Course) Procedure Order, 
1983, the written test carried 85 points and the viva voce 
test 15 points, making a total of 100 points. The points 
reserved for the viva voce test were sub-divided into 8 points 
for "Aptitude" andJpoints for "General Knowledge and General 
Intelligence". 
A similar 
procedure 
was 
prescribed 
for 
admission to the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar. The... . ._
entire pro~eedings during the interviews were to be recorde~ 
on a tape recorder. Fifty per cent of the toi:al admissions 
were to be affected on the basis of open merit and the 
ATUL KRULi.AR v. STATE 
561 
~-ining fifty per cent on the basis of merit from llllODgst 
~rved categories including the Scheduled Castes, socially 
and educationally backward cl88ses 88 well 88 residents of 
backward areas, Nominations to the institutions outside the 
State were to be 1l8de on the basis of merit in the select 
list. 
Annexure 1 to SRO 272 issued by the State Government on 
iuly 3, 1982 enumerated 1153 villages short of the Actual Line 
of Control Zone as backward areas of the State. SRO 334 dated 
June 13, 1983, raised this figure to 1754 villages. Thereafter 
SRO 335 dated June 14, 1983 added 25 villages and SRO 412 
dated August 27, 1984 another 14 villages with the result that 
_,,!793 villages constituted the backward areas of the State. In 
I regard to the Actual Line of Control Zone, SRO 335 added 9 
jillages to the 347 villages identified earlier. Candidates 
Clailling consideration under the backward areas category were 
required to enclose a certificate by the Tehsildar in support 
of their claim to that benefit. 
It was contended for the petitioners that the selection 
of several candidates from the backward areas categories, 
including areas near the Actual Line of Control Zone, was 
tnvalid as the category includes areas which were not 
~riginally included in Annex. 1 to SRO 272 but have been added 
A 
B 
c 
D 
subsequently, that candidates shown as residing in urban 
E 
areas of cities 
cannot be regarded as candidates from the 
backward areas category even though their respective families 
hailed from such areas, that the absence of minilllllll qualifying 
~tandard renders the selection of candidates from reserved 
areas categories arbitrary and invalid, that the allocation of 
)-only 85 points to the written test and as many as 15 points to 
F 
the viva ~ 
tes~ ont of a total of 100 points givea a 
weightage to the viva ~ 
test over the written test which 
was unreasonable, that the merks assigned to the candidates 
during the viva voce test had been manipulated in order to 
ensure that the number of candidates selected from the Valley 
of Kashmir corresponded in proportion to the respective 
G 
strengths of the collllllnities in Kashllir, that notwithstanding 
""' J!e specific order made by the Court on March 19, 1985 the 
respondent State had failed to produce ·the worksheets of the 
individual 
members of the Selection Committee, that the 
Selection Conaittee by taking into

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