1. ' USMAN ALI SHAH, J.--Both these appeals by leave of the Court have arisen from the judgment and order of a Division Bench of Baluchistan High Court, whereby Constitutional petition of the appellants in both the appeals was dismissed by the impugned judgment.
2. ' The facts, in brief, are that the appellants in both the appeals are the daughters of Muhammad Saeed Subhani. They had applied for admission in the first year, M.B.B.S. Class in the Bolan Medical College, Quetta in the academic year 1985 from the reserved quota of seats for Kalat District. The Selection Committee (respondent No,1 herein) turned down their applications on the ground that the appellants were not bona tide residents of Kalat District. The appellants filed separate Constitutional petitions against the said denial of the Selection Committee before the High Court of Baluchistan. The learned Judges of a Division Bench of the High Court vide order, dated 11-12-1985 held as under:- ' We have heard the learned counsel for the parties at length and it has been agreed that the petition be accepted in the following terms that the petitioner shall be considered for admission in the academic session 1986 on merits. The petition is accordingly accepted in the above terms.
3. There shall be no order as to costs."
4. ' Consequently, the appellants applied for admission in the 1986 session, giving a reference to the previous consent order of the said High Court. The Selection Committee in complete disregard of the said order of the High Court .Did not accede to the request of the appellants for their admission in the 1st year M.B.B.S. Course 1986 on the ground that they were not the bona fide residents of Kalat District. The appellants again filed separate writ petitions before the Baluchistan High Court, challenging the said denial of admission of the appellants in the said course. The learned Judges of the Division Bench of the High Court vide their single judgment, dated 7-6-1987 dismissed the writ petitions of the appellants.' Hence these appeals.
5. ' We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and thoroughly examined the record of the case as well as the findings of the learned High Court in both the writ petitions. It was argued before us by the learned counsel for the appellants that the question whether the appellants belonged to District Kalat was conclusively setteld by the learned High Court vide its order, dated 11-12-1985 and the appellants were found eligible to be considered for admission on their merits position in comparison with other candidates. Thus the question of eligibility of the appellants with regard to their being bona fide residents of Kalat District was closed and the respondent No,1 in both the appeals have no legal authority to re-open this issue once again. We feel, that the contention raised by the learned counsel for the appellants, is genuine and needs consideration by this Court. Because in the previous constitutional petitions the prayers with regard to the eligibility of the appellants for admission in the 1st year M.B.B.S. Course was accepted in their favour by the learned Judges of a Division Bench of the Baluchistan High Court. On the basis of the said finding the appellants were permitted to be considered on merits in the next academic session. Thus the question that the appellants belonged to District Kalat was positively determined in their favour. It is correct that the interpretation of the word "merits" includes eligibility as well as academic qualifications but in this particular case the term A eligibility has already been concluded by the learned Division Bench of the High Court in favour of the appellants, therefore, they were afforded an opportunity to appear in the next academic session of 1986 for consideration on merits. The intention of the learned High Court in its consent order was that the appellants be considered on merits of academic qualification for admission to the 1st year M.B.,B.S. Course otherwise their writ petitions could have been simply dismissed by the learned High Court. The learned Judges of the Division Bench of the High Court in subsequent writ petitions of the appellants have misread this aspect of the case while dismissing the same. The Government of Baluchistan has not B cancelled the issuance of domicile certificates of the appellants but kept them intact. Therefore, to keep pending the case of the two appellants for admission in medical college since 1984 to 1989, amounted to denial of justice when they were eligible for admission.
6. ' In the light of the above discussion, we accept both appeals with costs and set aside the impugned order of the High Court.