' AJMAL MIAN, J.--This is an appeal with the leave of this Court Rgai,ost the judgment dated 21-9- 1992 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Balochistan, Quetta, in Constitution Petition No,308 of 1992, filed by the appellant against the order of the Selection Committee declining her admission in the First Year M.B.,B.S. In Bolan Medical College, Quetta, for the session 1990-91 against the reserved seat of Pishin District on the ground that she failed to produce domicile certificate of the said District, dismissing the same.
2. The brief facts are that the appellant's father has been residing in Chaman which was part of Quetta District prior to 1975. He obtained a domicile certificate in 19:/3 from Quetta District which included Chaman and Pishin. It seems that in 1975, Quetta District was bifurcated into two Districts i,e, Quetta District and Pishin District. The latter included Chaman. The appellant got her education in Chaman up to Matriculation. Since there was no Woman College in Chaman, she passed her Intermediate Examination from Quetta. She secured 608 marks in the above examination. The appellant produced alongwith her application her father's aforesaid domicile certificate as she was below 21 years of age in terms of Explanation to paragraph 37 of the Prospectus, Rubina Shah, who had obtained 599 marks, also applied for the admission in the above Medical College for the aforesaid academic session against the reserved seat of Pishin District. The Selection Committee (i,e,. Respondent No,1) declined her request as follows:- "Miss Zubaida Bibi d/o Allah Bux: ' The candidate appeared before the Selection Committee and was heard. The Selection Committee scrutinized her documents. Her father Mr. Allah Bakhsh had obtained a domicile certificate from the District Magistrate, Quetta, when Pishin was the part of Quetta District but after the bifurcation of Pishin District he failed to obtain a new Domicile Certificate from the District Magistrate, Pishin. The Selection Committee was of the opinion that although the candidate's father is residing in Chaman, but until and unless she obtained a Domicile Certificate from the District Magistrate, Pishin, she is not eligible for admission on B.M.C. The Committee rejected her application for admission in 1st year M.B.,B.S./B.D.S. Course in B.M.C. During the Academic Session 1990-91 under paragraph No,28 of the Prospectus of B.M.C."
Against the above order, the appellant filed aforementioned Constitution Petition which was dismissed through the above judgment by a Division Bench of the High Court of Balochistan.
Thereupon, she filed a petition for leave to appeal in this Court, which was granted to consider, "whether the petitioner is not entitled to a seat in the Bolan Medical College from District Pishin on the A basis of domicile certificate of her father issued by the District Magistrate, Quetta, showing the petitioner and her family being the residents of Chaman when Pishin was a part of District Quetta".
3. We have heard Mr. Muhammad Munir Teracha, learned counsel for the appellant, Mr. Raja Abdul Ghafoor, learned A.O.R. For the Provincial Government, and Mr. SA.M. Qauadri, learned A.O.R. For respondent No,4, Rubina Shah.
4. The thrust of the arguments of Mr. Muhammad Munir Peracha, learned counsel for the appellant, was that under Explanation to Paragraph 37 of the Prospectus, the appellant was required to produce domicile certificate of her father and as her father had obtained domicile certificate from Quetta in 1973 which included Chaman and Pishin, the same could not be rejected.
' On the other hand, M/s. Raja Abdul Ghafoor and SAM. Quadri have contended that Paragraph 28 of the Prospectus is clear, which requires the production of domicile certificate of the district concerned against the reserved seat of which admission is applied for.
5. We may reproduce above Explanation to Paragraph 37 and Paragraph 28 of the Prospectus, which read as follows: "Explanation to Paragraph 37.--Explanation: Local/Domicile Certificate, in case the candidate is below 21 years of age, includes the Local/Domicile Certificate of father/mother of the candidate. In case such a candidate is not in a position to produce such certificate due to death of his/her parents, then it includes such certificate of legal guardian mentioning the name of the candidate therein."
"Paragraph-28. The candidates seeking admission to Bolan Medical College, shall have to produce before the Selection Committee a local certificate issued by the Deputy Commissioner-cum- District Magistrate of the respective district or a Domicile Certificate issued by the District Magistrate of the district under the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951 (Act II of 1951) and the rules made thereunder."
' A perusal of the above-quoted Explanation indicates that a candidate, who is below 21 years of age, is required to produce Local/Domicile Certificate of the father/mother and in case of death of his/her parents, of a legal guardian. Whereas under Paragraph 28, it is envisaged that the candidates seeking admission to Bolan Medical College should produce before the Selection Committee a local certificate issued by the Deputy Commission-District Magistrate of the respective district or a domicile certificate issued by the District Magistrate of the district under the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951.
6. Strictly speaking, one can urge that the requirement of Paragraph 28 cannot be met without producing a domicile certificate of the district concerned of the father or mother or guardian in case the candidate is below 21 years of age and of the candidate in case he/she is 21 years of age or above. However, in the present case there are two admitted facts as recorded by the Selection Committee, namely:
(i) That at the time when the appellant's father obtained the domicile certificate in question in 1973, it was valid for Chaman as it was part of Quetta district; and that the appellant's father had not changed his domicile as, according to the finding of the Selection Committee, he was residing at Chaman even at the time when the appellant applied for the above admission.
' We are inclined to hold that keeping in view the above admitted factual position, the view found favour with the Selection Committee and the learned Division Bench is hypertechnical. It may be observed that at the time when the appellant's father had obtained the aforesaid domicile certificate in 1973, it was valid even for the area which now falls within the limits of Pishin District.
There is no doubt that in the year 1975, Quetta District was bifurcated into two districts, namely, Quetta District and Pishin District as stated above. The lapse on the part of the appellant's father not to apply for a fresh domicile certificate of Pishin District was not the nature which warranted refusal to admit the appellant against the reserved seat of Pishin District, though admittedly the appellant and the appellant's father were bona fide domiciles of Chaman which is a part of Pishin District. The basic fact which needed consideration was, whether factually the appellant and the appellant's father were bona fide domiciles of the area which falls within the Pishin District. If a person obtains a domicile certificate from a district of which he is not factually domicile, such certificate may by in accordance with the above Paragraph 28 of the Prospectus, but it is violative of the basic concept of reservation of seats for various districts of Province of Balochistan. The object of reservation of seats for various districts of the Province seems to be that the students from various districts should have admission in the Medical College on equitable basis. It will not be out of context to mention that the appellant's elder sister and other family members were granted admission in the professional colleges and employment in the Government service of Balochistan on the strength of the appellant's fathers aforesaid domicile certificate that they were domiciles of Pishin District. There is no doubt that the above fact does not create any right in favour of the appellant as held by this Court in the case of Mir Muhammad Ibrahim v. District Magistrate, Kalat and others 1989 SCM R 185, but the same was a relevant factor for the purpose of deciding the case of the appellant. It may also be stated that in the case of Mir Muhammad Ibrahim (supra), the candidate was not a bona fide domicile of the area against the reserved seat of which he applied for admission in the Bolan Medical College and in fact the domicile certificate relied upon was cancelled by the District Magistrate concerned. In the case in hand, as is pointed out hereinabove, the appellant and her father are bona fide domiciles of Chaman even today as conceded by Mr. SA.M. Quadri, learned A.O.R. For respondent No,4 and the above domicile certificate has not been cancelled on account of bifurcation of Quetta District into districts, namely, Quetta District and Pishin District. The reasonable view would be that the above domicile certificate which was issued in 1973 and which was also valid for the area which now falls within Pishin District remains valid for that area in the absence of any contrary provision providing otherwise. We are, therefore, of the view that the appellant was refused admission on a ground which was not legally sustainable.
7. We have given our anxious consideration to the factum that the appellant as well as respondent No,4, Rubina Shah, are in the Fourth Year M.B.,B.S. And if respondent No,4 is dislodged at this stage, it would not only be a loss to her but would be loss to the public money which has been spent on her above education. We would, therefore, observe that respondents Nos. 1 to 3 may sympathetically consider her case and to allow her to continue with her studies as observed by this Court in the earlier cases, namely, in the case of The Chairman, Selection Committee, Bolan Medical College, Quetta etc. v. Miss Safia Hameed etc. 1979 SCM R 529 at page 533 and in the case of Miss Salina Mughal v. Selection Committee, Bolan Medical College, Quetta and others 1993 SCM R 2083.
8. The upshot of the above discussion is that the present appeal is allowed. The order of the Selection Committee and the judgment of the High Court are set aside, the appellant shall be deemed to have been validly admitted in Bolan Medical College, Quetta. However, there will be no order as to costs.