Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Sabyasachi Mukherjee, C.J., B.C. Ray, L.M. Sharma, P.B. Sawant and K. Ramaswamy

JUDGMENT

Sabyasachi Mukherjee, CJI.

1. The issues involved in this writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution are of seminal importance for the country and the people. The principles which should be applicable in governing the problem are indisputable. Their application, however, presents certain amount of anxiety.

2. The petitioner, a citizen of India, was born on 6th October, 1969 in Tenali in the State of Andhra Pradesh. He belongs to the Gouda community also known as "Goudu". it is stated in the petition. This community is recognised as "Scheduled Tribe' in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, as amended upto date. We are not concerned with the correctness or otherwise of the factual position on this aspect in this application. The father of the petitioner had been issued a Scheduled Tribe Certificate by the Tahsildar, Tenali, Andhra Pradesh on 3rd August, 1977. On the basis of the said certificate, the father of the petitioner was appointed in the Fertilizer Corporation of India, a public sector undertaking, on 17th October, 1977 in the Scheduled Tribes quota. On the 19th June, 1978, the petitioner's father joined the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., a Government of India undertaking, under the quota reserved for Scheduled Tribes and he has been stationed in Bombay since then. The petitioner, therefore, came to live in Bombay, in the State of Maharashtra, since the age of nine years. The petitioner completed his secondary and higher education in Bombay. In March, 1989, the petitioner passed the 12th standard examination of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination, Bombay Divisional Board, securing 165 marks in the aggregate in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. For the academic year 1989-90, the petitioner submitted his application for three medical colleges in Bombay which are run by the Bombay Municipal Corporation (Respondent No. 2 herein) and for one medical college in Bombay run by the State of Maharashtra (respondent No. 3). The total number of seats in the three medical colleges run by the Municipal Corporation for the MBBS Course is 400 out of which 7% i.e. 28 seats were reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The total number of seats in the medical college run by the State of Maharashtra is 200 out of which 7% i.e. 14 seat........