Imphal, September 23, 2009: The Gauhati High Court Imphal Bench today directed authority concerns of the Manipur government to cancel the candidate selected for the ex-servicemen quota in the selection of candidates for study of MBBS this year and allot to a scheduled caste candidate.

The direction was given after a hearing to a petition filed alleging that the state government authority has selected a candidate from ex-servicemen in the quota for the scheduled caste.

The hearing was conducted in the court of Justice T Nandakumar of Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench today.

The writ petition was filed in the court by a candidate of the scheduled caste in the recently conducted MBBS/BDS entrance exam conducted by the state health services, Naorem Dipak against the state health and family welfare commissioner, director of health services and also against the candidate who was selected in the ex-servicemen, quota, Mayanglaubam Pawankumar.

State government authority has selected 61 candidates for studying MBBS/ BDS as government nominees for the year 2009.Out of the 61 candidate, 31 were from general category, 19 from the ST, seven from OBC(M), two from OBC (MP), one each from ex-servicemen and sportsperson.

Advocate N Ibotombi, counsel of the petitioner observed in the court that Dipak who was candidate from SC got 316 marks and was in 65th in the merit list.

But keeping behind him, in the final selected list, Pawankumar who got 280 marks and in 191 rank in the merit list was included in shortlisted as reservation of ex-servicemen.

Dipak was kept at the waiting list even though none of the candidate from SC included in the selection.

As per the rules governing the selection of government nominee for the study of MBBS and BDS, after the selection of candidate for the general category, candidates from the ST, SC and OBC are to be selected.

They are called vertical reservation which cannot be violated, he observed.

Other reservation for the ex-servicemen and sports persons are called horizontal reservation.

This category cannot by-pass the vertical reservation.

In the selection 31 candidates in the general category two from ex-servicemen have already included.

As per the rule reservation for the SC candidate could not adjust with the reservation of ex-servicemen, he argued.

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