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The Delhi High Court said that a Delhi student who passed his class 12 examination from an NCR school cannot avail benefit of reservation available to a “Delhi candidate" in admissions in a college of the national capital. Justice Sanjeev Narula said that the language of the relevant provision of Delhi Diploma Level Technical Education Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee, Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non-Exploitive Fee and Other Measures to Ensure Equity and Excellence) Act is “clear and unambiguous" and term “Delhi candidate" means a candidate who has appeared for or passed the qualifying examination from a recognised school or institution which is in Delhi, news agency PTI reported.
Notably, the court passed the order on a petition by a student who completed class 12 education from a school in Gurugram while being a resident in Delhi and now sought benefit of reservation for college admission here. The petitioner said that till class 5, he studied in the Delhi "branch" of the school and the Act ought not disqualify students who are residents of Delhi and have passed the qualifying examination i.e. class 12 examination from a school located outside of the city but within NCR, from availing the benefit of reservation available for the locals.
Dismissing the petition, the court said the determining factor to avail the benefit is the geographic location of the school providing the pass certificate of the qualifying examination, as opposed to the domicile of the student. The court noted that the school in Gurugram was “not just a branch" of the petitioner's earlier school in Delhi but a separate school recognised by the government of Haryana and fell under the ambit of the Haryana education department, the report said.
“The determining factor to avail the benefit is the geographic location of the school providing the pass certificate of the qualifying examination, as opposed to the domicile of the student. Although the term 'Delhi student' which appears in Section 12(1)(b) of the 2007 Act is not specifically defined or equated to the term 'Delhi candidate'; however, the reference to 'Delhi student', in the said provision, in the context of the instant statute, can have only one meaning, i.e. 'Delhi candidate'," said the court in an order released on Wednesday.
(With inputs from PTI)