While holding as valid the regional reservation for Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam for admission to professional courses in the Union Territory, the Madras High Court on Friday set it aside for the Puducherry region.
The First Bench consisting of Chief Justice M.Y.Eqbal and Justice T.S.Sivagnanam passed the order on petitions by the Federation of Puducherry Parents-Students Affected by Region-wise Reservation and others.
The federation sought to declare as unconstitutional a G.O. of August 10, 2006 of the Puducherry government and a subsequent G.O. in the information bulletin issued by the Centralised Admission Committee.
The petitioner said the government passed the G.O. of August 2006 fixing the percentage of seats as per the population strength – 18 per cent for Karaikal, four per cent for Mahe and three per cent for Yanam. Suddenly, the government announced that the remaining 75 per cent would be reserved for the Puducherry region students. Quoting various judgments, the Bench said in view of the law laid down in the decisions, it was clear that the territorial classification was not bad under all circumstances. As regards the reservation for Puducherry, it said, no reason had been assigned as to the object behind reserving 75 per cent seats exclusively for the region.
