The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Diploma Veterinary Association Haryana assailing the order passed by State of Haryana, whereby minimum educational qualification for admission to Veterinary Livestock Development Diploma course has been changed from “10+2 (Physics, Chemistry & Biology)” to “10+2 (any stream)” for all Veterinary Educational Institutes in Haryana from academic session 2024-25 onwards.
However, the said order has been made subject to the condition that a fixed percentage of questions in the entrance examination for the Diploma course shall be introduced from Medical/Science stream and the students belonging to non-science category would be subject to appropriate “bridge course”.
The counsel for the petitioner has relied upon the reply filed by the State functionaries that is Director General, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Department, Haryana in another petition of 2022 (Self Financing College Association and others vs. State of Haryana and others) wherein the State of Haryana had opposed any attempt to dilute the minimum educational qualification necessary for being eligible to appear for entrance examination for the said Diploma course.
It is submitted that it would not be in the public interest and also in the interest of the Livestock to allow non-science students to be admitted to the said Diploma course.
“This Court is ill-equipped to enter into the domain of suitability and appropriateness of minimum education qualification in the field of professional education i.e. Veterinary Livestock Development Diploma course,” held by the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal.
However, assessing the argument of learned counsel for the petitioner from the stand point of reasonableness, the Court noted that the impugned order cannot be sacrificed on the altar of Article 14 or 15 of the Constitution of India as the change in the minimum educational qualification has been made subject to non-science students passing a particular bridge course and answering certain Science stream questions in the entrance examination.