Kerala High Court Upholds 10% EWS Reservation For Veterinary & Dental Courses Under KEAM [2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 1]

The Kerala High Court recently upheld the 10% reservation earmarked for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) for Veterinary and Dental Courses under Kerala Engineering Architecture ad Medical (KEAM).

Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan closed the writ petition upon noticing that a Government Order dated 20.03.2020 had established the said reservation, and after the Government Pleader endorsed that it was a policy decision of the State.

The Director of Medical Education also submitted an affidavit as per the Court's directions wherein it was stated that as per the said Government Order, 10% of seats are set apart for candidates belonging to EWS. 

"In the light of the affidavit of the 3rd respondent and in the light of Ext.R3(a) Government Order, I think no further clarity is necessary in this writ petition. Recording the affidavit and clause 5 of Ext.R3(a), this writ petition is closed."

The petitioner was a candidate identified under the category of Economically Weaker Section. Being an eligible candidate, he had applied for the KEAM entrance examination.

The Commissioner of Entrance Examination issued a prospectus for admission to professional degree courses entailing general information regarding the entrance examination, including the manner of seat allocation for the reserved category of students.

Clause 4.3 of the prospectus dealt with the reservation of seats for EWS in the general category. This clause contained 2 parts:

(1) Government Orders issued by the State to implement the reservation for EWS in the general category to all Higher Educational Institutions other than minority institutions.

(2) In case of courses/institutions for which the additional seats required for the implementation of EWS quota are not already sanctioned by the respective central council, the institution wise breakup under EWS quota will be notified separately as and when required additional seats are sanctioned.

A perusal of the rank list published in 2020 for the said entrance examination reveals that the State government had excluded the EWS category reservation from the veterinary and dental courses.

The petitioner contended that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had issued an Office Memorandum dated 17th January 2019 directing to implement EWS in all the educational institutions with the prior approval of the appropriate authority by increasing the number of seats to the respective courses.

Relying on this memorandum, the petitioner approached the court challenging the non-implementation of EWS to the veterinary and dental courses. After hearing the matter, he was permitted to withdraw the case with liberty to move afresh.

Accordingly, a fresh plea was filed through Advocates C. Dheeraj Rajan and Anand Kalyanakrishnan with the following contentions:

• A constitutional amendment was brought in to promote social equality by providing opportunities in higher education and employment to those who have been excluded by virtue of their economic status, i.e., EWS.
• The EWS scheme is beneficial legislation and it has to be interpreted harmoniously so as to grant benefits to the economically weaker section of the society.
• Once a reservation takes effect in the respective governments, it becomes a vested right of the eligible candidate to be identified under the said category of reservation and it has to be implemented in any contingency.
• Delay in implementing EWS reservation to the veterinary and dental course is per se illegal and an infringement of Article 14 of the Constitution.
• Articles 15(6) and 16(6) are enabling provisions conferring power upon the State to implement the Reservation category of EWS in the whole State. So it is mandatory and obligatory for the authorities to provide the same unconditionally.

Accordingly, the plea sought directions to the Dental Council of India and Veterinary Council of India to increase the number of seats to the Veterinary and Dental Courses to implement the reservation category of the EWS.

Case Title: Vinay Shankar v. Union of India & Ors.

Citation: [2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 1]

Click Here To Read/Download The Order