Only Students Residing In District Where Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Is Situated Are Eligible For Admissions: Bombay High Court

"Candidate seeking admission to the JNV must satisfy the twin test (i) he must be studying in class V in Government / Government aided or other recommended schools or B Certificate Competency Course of NIOS in the same District where the JNV is situated and (ii) he must be resident of the same district where the JNV is situated and is seeking admission", the court held.

The court relied on Clause 4.1 and Clause 3 of the Prospectus for 2022 admissions. Clause 4.1 provides that only the candidates from the district where the JNV is located are eligible to apply for admission. Clause 3.6 provides that children selected on the basis of the entrance test will be admitted only in the JNV located in the district from where they completed 5^th standard and appeared for the test.

A division bench of Justice S. V. Gangapurwala and Justice R. N. Laddha dismissed writ petitions filed by students seeking admission to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Sangli, Sindhdurg and Ratnagiri despite being from Kolhapur district.

The petitioners completed their 5th standard from Sangli District. They were selected for admission after the entrance test. The school sought permanent residence certificate from the petitioners for admission. The petitioners through their guardians approached the High Court challenging this.

Advocate Prashant Bhavake for the petitioners submitted that the students do not have to submit residence proof according to the guidelines for admission for academic year 2022. It is only required for students seeking admission through National Institute of Open Schooling. The only condition for the students selected on the basis of entrance exam is that they should have passed 5^th standard from the same district where the JNV is located. The petitioners qualify the eligibility criteria.

Advocate Neeta Masurkar for the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti submitted that only the candidates from the district where the JNV has been opened are eligible to apply for admission. Passing 5^th standard from the same district is just one of the conditions. The object of JNV is to provide good quality education and to serve as focal point for improvement in quality of school education in each district. If students from Kolhapur are given admission in Sangli district, the entire reservation quota of the Sangli district will be disturbed, causing prejudice to the students of Sangli district. The candidates rightly rejected Since the petitioners fail to submit the residence prove.

The question before the court was whether the students not residing in the district can seek admission in the JNV situated in the district. The court answered in the negative.

The court recorded that 75% of the seats in the district are filled by candidates from rural areas and remaining seats from urban areas. Seats for children belonging to SC and ST are reserved in proportion to the population of the district concerned. "The object of the scheme is to provide good quality modern education including a strong components of culture, inculcation of values, awareness of the environment, adventure activities and physical education to the talented children predominantly from rural areas", the court noted.

The court said the object of the scheme along with all clauses will have to be read in harmony to arrive to conclusion. "All the clauses will have to be read in a manner that none of the clause is rendered nugatory or otiose", said the court.

The Prospectus provides, 'only the candidates from the district concerned where the JNVs are opened are eligible for admission'. The court said that the word 'only' implies that students from other districts are excluded and there is no other interpretation possible for this.

Reading clause 3.6 and 4 of the Prospectus, the court concluded that the candidates have to satisfy the twin test of eligibility for admission. The candidates should have passed 5th standard from the district where the JNV is located. Further, the candidates must also be from the district where the JNV they are seeking admission in is located.

The condition for residence certificate in case of NIOS is just an additional condition for clarification as NIOS is a correspondence course without regular classes, the court said.

Case no. – Writ Petition No. 9310 of 2022

Case title – Ku. Shubham Vijay Patil and Ors. v. The Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Bom) 387