Jammu Kashmir High Court Ruling on BOPEE Seat Allocation

The Jammu Kashmir High Court has affirmed that the Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) has followed the guidelines and norms relating to the allocation of seats, and it has been done as per the seat matrix for all the categories. The court was considering a petition alleging inconsistencies in the allotment of MBBS seats by the BOPEE for the year 2020. A medical aspirant sought quashing of the selection of a candidate who was given admission in Government Medical College Doda under the Reserved Backward Area (RBA) category.

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The court observed that the petitioner, while approaching the court, had a misconception regarding Rule no 17 of Reservation Rules which has been applied by BOPEE while allotting seats to 18 MBBS students in GMC Srinagar under the RBA female candidate category. A bench of justice comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar affirmed that there is nothing wrong in the manner adopted and operated by BOPEE for allocation of seats.

As per a recent media report by Daily Excelsior, the court observed that 18 MBBS seats of GMC Srinagar as per the seat matrix, were to be allocated to the female candidates under the RBA category. 6 female candidates under the category who also fall under the Meritorious Reserved Category (MRC) chose the college offered to them as per their category status, and other than them, 12 RBA female category candidates were also allotted seats in the same college as per the merit list.

"In this way, the 18 allotted seats have been occupied and the same is the position with regard to GMC Jammu. It is thus evident that the aggrieved aspirant, though has no genuine grievance, yet has approached this court laboring under misconception with regard to the manner in which Rule 17 of the Reservation Rules is to be applied by BOPEE", Justice Kumar clarified.

Justice Kumar, clarifying Rule 17 of the reservation rule, stated that BOPEE has applied the rule while the allocation of the seat as according to the rule in a situation where some of the candidates under the reserved category also qualify for higher ranks on the basis of their merit and performance in the entrance examination, they will be entitled to seek admission under the general merit category as well.

Moreover, such candidates who are also part of general category seats will not be counted against the quota earmarked for the reserved category. They will be treated as a general category candidate and in such circumstances, the seat will fall vacant under the reserved quota and will go to the next candidate belonging to the category who is next on the merit list. According to the daily, explaining the move of BOPEE, Justice Kumar stated that MRC in the case did not seek admission under the general merit category and did not accept the choice of college that was offered to the candidate under the general category candidature. Hence, the authorities decided that Rule 17 would be applied and the candidate would be given the option to seek admission to the college of choice in view of the student's merit cum performance under the reserved category.

"It is because of application of this Rule, which has been elaborately explained by this court in several judgments, the BOPEE found that candidates under RBA for MBBS with GMC, Srinagar as their first preference had the merit points higher than the cut off in open category and there, had been selected under the open category and claimed their admission in the said college on the basis of their 'merit cum preference' in their reserved category", Justice Kumar further clarified.

The court stated that BOPEE has rightly applied the rules and regulations of admission as per the seat matrix and has properly filled up all the 100 MBBS seats reserved for RBA female candidates for admission to MBBS courses in the eight medical colleges.