ZAKAULLAH LODHI, J.-This judgment will dispose of Constitution Petitions Nos. 27 and 31 of 1977 which raise common questions of law and facts.
2. The facts in Petition No. 27 of 1977 filed by Ghulam Rasool are that he was a bona fide resident of his Province and belonged to Mohammad Zai Mengal tribe settled in Tehsil Nuski District Chagai from times immemorial. His father hold ancestral landed property in the district. He was also issued a certificate bearing No. 4199-V dated 27th December. 1973 by the Political Agent Chagal, declaring him to be a local resident of Chagai. Besides this, he and his brother Abdullah were granted scholarships by the District Council, Chagai during the year 1973-74. However, his father had temporarily settled in District Sangarh, Province of Sind, in connection with his business, therefore he qualified his matriculation examination from Government High School, Sangarh. In the year 1973 he returned back to Baluchistan and passed his F. Sc. Examination in the year 1975 from Govermnent Intermediate College, Quetta and was placed in third division. In order to improve the division he appeared in intermediate examination again in the year 1976 and passed the examination with 488 marks and was placed in the 2nd division. It is an undisputed fact that he secured higher marks than Abid Hussain the third respondent in this petition and Abdul Baql the petitioner in the other connected constitution petition.
As he desired to get admission in an Engineering College in Pakistan against the only one seat alloted to Chagai District, he made an application to the first respondent along with third respondent and petitioner in Petition No. 31 of 197 7 all whom claimed to be Locals of Chagai District.
His case was examined along with the case of the said two candidates by the selection committee constituted by the first and second respondent for this purpose. The selection Committee selected Abdul Baqi and rejected the applications of petitioner Ghulam Rasool and third respondent Abid Huesain on the ground that former was permanent resident of Sind and whereas the later was permanent resident of Quetta District. Being aggrieved by the decision of Selection Committee both, petitioner Ghulam Rasool and third respondent Abid Hussain filed appeals to the respondent No. 2, the Appellate Committee constituted by the Department of Education to hear appeal against the orders of the Selection Committee. The Appellate Committee rejected the appeal of petitioner Ghulam Rasool and allowed the appeal of the Abid Hussain the third respondent, and approved him for admission to the Engineering College vide order dated 13th February, 1977. Against the orders of the Selection Committee dated 20th January, 1977 and the order of the Appellate Committee dated 13th February, 107 petitioner Ghulam Rasool has preferred this petition on the ground that he was a bona fide resident of Chagai District of which he had furnished ample proof before the two Committees whereas Abid Hussain the third respondent was resident of Quetta District and there--fore he had a preferential claim over him for admission to an Engineering College.
3. The case of Abdul Baqi, the petitioner In Constitution Petition No. 31 of 1977 is that he was a bona fide resident/local of District Chagai and belonged to Bareeh Tribe. His lather had sufficient immovable property in Nushki Town which indicated that he was a bona fide resident of District Chagai. According to him although he secured lesser marks than Ghulam Rasool the petitioner in Petition No. 27 of 1977, and Abid Hussain the third respondent in both the petitions but both of them were not entitled to admission in the Engineering College against the seat reserved for Chagai District as Abid Hussain belonged to Quetta District whereas Ghulam Rasool belonged to Sind. He was also aggrieved by the decision of the appellate committee who reversed the finding of the Selection Committee and selected Abid Hussain third respondent in his place.
4. In order to decide both these petitions it would be pertinent to examine the propriety of Ghulam Rasool's claim because if it was found that the orders of the two committees passed in his case were illegal then there would be no necessity left to examine the claims of Abid Hussain the third respondent in these petitions and Abdul Baqi, petitioner in Petition No. 31 of 1977 as in that case both of them would not be entitled to admission on merits as they have secured lesser marks than Ghulam Raaool.
5. The admission policy formulated by the first respondent shows that the residents of the Province had been divided into following two categories in order of preference for admission to Engineering colleges and seats were reserved for each District.
"The following should be eligible for admission:--
(a) Bona fide residents of the Province.
(b) Domciles of Baluchistan continuously living in the Province for the last 12 years and who have passed the Middle, Matric & F. Sc, B. Sc examination from an institution situated in Baluchistan. This would however not strictly apply to such domicile candidates whose father/ guardian has remained out of the Province on account of his posting in service outside the Province and who has passed his Middle, Matric, F. Sc., B. Sc. Examination from institution not situated in the Province."
From the perusal of above policy it is manifest that as far as the first category was concerned it comprised of the candidates who were bona fide residents or as we can call them locals whereas the second category was of domiciles of Baluchistan with the second category the condition of continuous living in the province for 12 years before making the application for admission was placed which was relax able in some circumstances. But no such condition was placed as far as the locals or bona fide residents of the Province were concerned. These two categories of residents are separate and distinct from each other and can be conveniently distinguished. The second category after the first category in order of preference and since all the three contestants belong to first category we need not dilate upon the entitlement of the second category candidates. As such the task before us would be to interpret the term "bona fide resident" of the Province and to see whether petitioner Ghulam Rasool was covered by this definition or not. It is un--deniable as is also recognized by the policy lard down by the first respondent that all those people who were not covered by the term "domiciles of Baluchistan" and for whom a condition precedent of 12 years continuous living relax able in some cases, was prescribed the rest of the residents of the d province were to be regarded as bona fide residents of the Province as locals. These people were obviously those who belonged to some or the other indigenous tribe and were settled in the province, since times immemorial and were also declared as such from time to time by the Provincial Government. In case of Miss Amtul Naseer. Same v. Secretary, Health Government, of Baluchistan (1975 SCMR 265) the term local was assigned the same meanings as were assigned to the term bona fide resident of Baluchistan so as to distinguish one category of residents from the other, we would also use the same terminology so as to avoid any confusion. The term bona fide residents if construed in common parlance it would include ail those who are residents of the province with the intention of living there permanently. This term is also capable of covering that category of domicile, also who have settled down in the Province with bona fide intention to live her permanently. However these two categories which are distinct from each other seem to have been carved oat to facilitate the task of admission and in order to give its due share to each category.
Permanent stay in the Province, coupled with genuine intention to live in the Province permanently B is a condition precedent for the first category Le. "bona fide residents" o "locals" but that would not moan that such persona who themselves or whose forefathers have been living in Baluchistan for centuries together and who have left the Province temporarily for exigencies of service or business would be excluded from the category of bona fide residents or locals. We are strengthened in this view also by the fact that in the admission policy "bona fide resident" of the Province have not been burdened with any such condition as hag been placed in case of the domiciles of Baluchistan, probably such a condition in the case of "bona fide residents or "locals" was not practical because a considerable portion of the population of the Province was nomadic or migratory. During some parts of the year they went even up to Sind and Punjab and returned to Baluchistan when weather conditions were favourable. They were compelled to resort to migratory or nomadic life for economic reasons also a9 chances of earning livelihood in Baluchistan were far too meager than in other Provinces. Besides nomadic population innumerable population was settled in other Provinces of the country to earn livelihood. In such circumstances it would be too harsh and unjust to say that since they did not live in a particular place in the Province permanently therefore they list their status as a "bona fide resident" or Local. This feature is not peculiar to Baluchistan only but in many other places in the world it was not possible for nomadic or migratory population to change its mode of life for reasons already discussed. In all probability the framers of the policy were fully conscious of this position and that is why they did not qualify the term "bona fide residents" with permanent residence of a particular period at one place. In fact, no hard and fast rules or readymade test can be prescribed for judging as to who a "bona fide resident" of a particular place and when did he ceases to be a "Bona fide resident" of that place by virtue of shifting his abode to some other place. It is very much a matter of intention and intention of a person can only be judged from attending circumstances. If a person elects to forego all his rights and responsibilities which come to his share by virtue of his being "bona fide resident" of a particular place and shifts to some other place with intention to live there permanently he immediately ceases to be a bona fide resident" of the former place even though his and his ancestors settlement at the place may be from times immemorial and he may also be having immovable property there. However as long as he does not give up his resolution of living in that place the fact that he had temporarily shifted to another place for some justifiable reasons C would not come in his way as an impediment and he would be recognized as a bona fide resident of that place for all intents and purposes. Similarly a person who starts living at a particular place with bona fide intention to live there permanently should ordinarily be regarded as bona fide resident of that place. But as people are likely to take disadvantage if such a liberal view of the matter is taken therefore test of permanent living for some time before being regarded as local or bona fide resident of a placo is applied. With these conditions in view we proceed to examine the case of petitioner Ghulam Rasool to see if he had severed all connections from Chagai District and had permanently settled at District Sangarh where his father was living for past some time or that his residence at Sanghar District was of temporary nature. According to learned counsel for Abdul Baqi Hussain his father's shifting to Sangarh was enough to indicate that the petitioner had severed all his connections with Baluchistan and had no intention to return back to Chagai. We do not agree with this contention. Annexure "A" with the petition is copy of the revenue record which shows that petitioner's father possessed agricultural lands in Chagai District, Annexure 'B' is certificate issued by the Agent Chagai on 27th December 1973 declaring that the petitioner was a bona file resident of District Chagai, Annexure' C with the petition was a certificate by the political Agent certifying that in the year 1973-74 the petitioner and his brother Abdullah were given scholar--ships as they were considered bona fide residents of Chagai District and Annexure "D" was a copy of the order of political Agent Chagai passed in January, 1977 on the application of Abdul Baqi petitioner in Petition No. 31 of 1977 who had challenged the status of Ghulam Rasool as bona fide resident of Chagai, In this order the political Agent Chagai after making D inquiries reached the conclusion that both Abdul Baqi and Ghulam Rasooll were locals/bona fide residents of District Chagai. Over and above thatl the fact that Ghulam Rasool returned back to Baluchistan when he had attained majority and was capable of loving away from his parents and studied in college at Quetta continuously for three years is adequate proof of his intention to live in his ancestral place and not at Sangarh where his father was temporarily living. On the other hand the respondents have not been able to furnish any proof to the effect that petitioner Ghulam Rasool or his father had either obtained a domicile certificate from Sangarh in order to assert their rights in that district, or had committed any other overtaot to make Sanghar their permanent abode which could prove that they had severed all their connections with Baluchistan. If any proof or this kind had come forth we would not have hesitated to hold that he was permanent resident of Sanghar and had abandoned his residence of Chagai for good. In these circumstances all what can be said is that the petitioner belonged to Baluchistan and desired to continue to live in Chagai District and his temporary stay in Sind where he got his education up to matriculation F was not of any consequence and could not be regard-ad fatal to his status as bona fide resident/local of Baluchistan. Accordingly we are of the view that the impugned decisions are not tenable. He is entitled to admission to Engineering College as against the third respondent as well as Abdul Baq1 who have secured lesser marks than him. We however, need not go into the question whether Abid Hussain was a bona fide resident of Chagai District or not as that is not relevant for the decision of this petition.
For the reasons given above we accept Constitution Petition No. 27 of 1977 and dismiss Constitution Petition No. 31 of 1977 with no orders as to costs and declare the first and second respondent's decision refusing admission to Ghulam Rasool and allowing admission to Abid Hussain third respondent as illegal and direct them to refer the name of Gbulam Rasool, the petitioner in Petition-No. 27 of 1977 to the Engineering College in place of Abid Hussain. A copy of this judgment should be sent to the Secretary Education Province of Baluchistan, for compliance.