Punjab: Admission stalling of battle casualty's daughter quashed by HC

Chandigarh:The Punjab and Haryana High Court has come to the rescue of the daughter of a former army major, killed in an anti terror operations by granting her admission into an MBBS course in a medical college in Patiala. The apex court of Punjab, deprecating the role of the Punjab government, has imposed a fine of Rs. 20,000 on the medical college for unnecessarily stalling the admission of the student.

“Unnecessary objections had been raised by respondents, putting the petitioner and her family to hardships despite the sacrifice her father had made for the country,” the high court bench said while confirming the admission and imposing the fine on the Patiala medical college

The student’s father was recognised as battle casualty.He was killed in an encounter with militants in October 1999.

Objections about validity of certificate of battle casualty had been raised by the said college, when after qualifying the Punjab Pre-Medical Entrance test (PMET 2015-16) the girl applied for admission. The reason stated was that the certificate was issued by the army headquarters and not countersigned by District Sainik Welfare Officer and the Director, Defence Services, Punjab.

The student had got the certificate countersigned by District Sainik Welfare Officer and the Director, Defence Services, Punjab, as her father was a resident of Haryana. Things came to such a pass that she was told at a stage in the conflict that her seat would be handed over to the next in line, if she didn’t remove the raised objections.

With no alternatives at hand, she finally took recourse to legal action and moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The court in turn directed the university to give her provisional admission on September 24, 2015.

When the Punjab Government argued that reservation was only meant for the candidates who were dependents of defence personnel belonging to Punjab and not to the other states, the high court quashed it.

It observed that the girl had studied from SAS Nagar (Mohali) and her mother belonged to Sangrur, Punjab.

“There should be no dispute that she would be entitled for admission on the strength of having passed Class 12 and her mother owned property in Punjab,” the high court affirmed. It also mentioned that the Army headquarters had sent all requisite certificates, which were objected to by respondents.

The court also mentioned that the girl’s certificate, issued by the army headquarter did not require a counter signatory. It regretted that the daughter of an ex-serviceman, killed in terror operation was put through such hardship and ‘zone of uncertainty’ for a whole year .