SUBHALAXMI PRADHAN Vs. NAVODAYA VIDYALAYA SAMITI
LAWS(ORI)-2022-10-100
HIGH COURT OF ORISSA
Decided on October 19,2022

Subhalaxmi Pradhan Appellant
VERSUS
Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti Respondents

JUDGEMENT

SASHIKANTA MISHRA,J. - (1.)The petitioner being a student of Class-V of Sri Aurobindo Integral Education Center, Laxmidharpur, Dhenkanal had applied for admission to Class-VI in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in the academic session 2021-22. She appeared in the entrance examination conducted pursuant to advertisement issued by Government of India. The petitioner belongs to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) Khaira community. She qualified for admission in the said entrance examination and was declared to have passed in "Rural SC Category". When it was found that she actually belongs to ST category, she was refused admission in JNV. It is stated that the category of the petitioner was wrongly mentioned as 'SC' instead of 'ST' at the time of filling up of the online application. It is further stated that such error was caused because of mistake committed by the Data Entry Operator (DEO). Since the Rules governing the admission to JNVs permits interchangeability of SC and ST candidates, the petitioner contends that she should not have been denied admission. During pendency of the writ application, the academic session 2021-22 having expired, the petitioner amended the writ petition with prayer to direct the authorities to allow her to take admission in Class-VII by treating her admission into Class-VI notionally.
(2.)A preliminary counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the JNV, Saranga. It is stated that there is no vacancy in ST category and that interchangeability is not possible as all ST seats have been filled up. If the petitioner is allowed against SC category, the eligible SC candidates in the available panel will be deprived of their legitimate rights.
(3.)A further affidavit was filed by the JNV stating that as per the Para-b of the NVS Prospectus, reservation of seats in favour of children belonging to the SC and ST is provided in proportion to their population in the district concerned provided that in no district, such reservation will be less than the national average (15% for SC and 7.5 % for ST) but subject to maximum of 50% for both the categories (SC & ST) taken together. It is further stated that these reservations are interchangeable and over and above the candidates selected under open merit. It is also stated that admission process for JNV Selection Test-2021 has been exhausted upon issue of notification of JNV Selection Test2022-23.


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