The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea on NEET UG- 2021 by a woman Scheduled Caste candidate in Haryana where her plea sought to be accepted as an SC category candidate in the State of Maharashtra under Article 341 read with Article 366 (24) of the Constitution.
The petitioner had sought directions for her to be admitted into a medical college under Maharashtra’s quota if she found place in the state’s merit list of NEET UG 2021.
The bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A.S. Bopanna observed that the present petition requires the bench to declare all the constitutional benches to be wrong, starting form Marri Chandra Rao.
The bench said that the petitioner is not a Scheduled Caste person in the state of Maharashtra. But she has completed her Class 12 from Maharashtra, hence it makes the case hard. The candidate will not be considered a domicile in Haryana because otherwise the candidate will be entitled to a reserved seat in Haryana.
Justice Chandrachud appreciated Advocate Nitin Meshram, appearing for the petitioner, for clearly mentioning the issue in the very first paragraph or else the bench had to read some 20 pages, to find out the whole point.
Nitin Meshram submitted that the Court did not consider the implication of Articles 330 and clause (5) of 332 while interpreting the Constitution in Marri Chandra Rao.
The counsel submitted further that while interpreting the implications, the comments provided by Dr B.R. Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly have been misunderstood as the comment given was in no relation to Article 341 but autonomous districts.
Justice Chandrachud said that as a bench of two, they cannot cast any doubts on consistent benches there is no reason to cast a doubt as it is a well-settled law, so there is no reason to transfer it to a three-judge bench as well.
The bench while dismissing the petition said that the matter sought to be canvassed in these proceedings is governed by the judgments of the Constitution benches in several decisions, which have been fairly placed at the forefront of the synopsis.