Waiving domicile for defence quota: HC upholds UT ruling

Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana high court has up-held the decision of Chandigarh administration exempting the wards of serving or retired defence personnel from the condition of domicile for getting admission in medical courses under UT pool. With this, the admission to the entire 85% of seats in the UT pool would be open to the wards of serving defence personnel/ex-servicemen without requiring a domicile.

Courts are not tasked with offering opinions; their primary role is to ensure that the policies enacted are legal and do not violate constitutional or statutory provisions….” HC division bench

“The UT residents cannot claim that they are exclusively entitled to be admitted in UT pool seats. Due to their job requirement, defence personnel are posted in various parts of the country.

HC says exemption clause for defence quota in prospectus. Such provision in the prosspectus is not per se illegal,” the HC has held in its order of Nov 5, released on Friday.

Division bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal has passed these orders while dismissing a petition filed by Devang Bansal and others. The matter has been pending before the HC for the past two years. The pet itioners had mainly contended that admission to the entire 85% of seats in the UT pool was open to the wards of serving defence personnel/ ex-servicemen without requiring domicile, which is arbitrary, illegal, unconstitutional and contrary to the principle of preference.

The HC also noted that the clause granting exemption for admission under defence quota was consistently incorporated in prospectuses issued from the academic session starting 2011.

Dismissing the petition, the bench held that it was evident from the policy decision dated Sept 14, 2007, is sued by the home secretary, that the administration had for wards of serving/retired defence personnel seeking admission to institutions in Chandigarh waived domiciliary restrictions of minimum stay in the states/UTs and the condition that students would have to have passed their Class X and XII exams from the same state/UT to mitigate the problem of admissions to higher learning institutions.

The HC also noted that the clause granting exemption for admission under the defence quota was consistently incorporated in the various prospectuses issued from the academic session starting 2011. “The prospectus became available on Dec 28, 2021, whereas the first writ petition was filed on February 9, 2022…,” observed the bench while dismissing the petition.

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