This article contains a brief note prepared by me for the leading case of P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra, (2004) 8 SCC 139, which is a part of the paper “Leading Cases” for the Supreme Court Advocate on Record Examination 2015. This note was a part of my lecture delivered in 2013 to about 100+ Advocates who were preparing for the AOR examination. It is a part of the AOR series on leading cases.
P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra, (2004) 8 SCC 139:
This, in fact, is a case decided by a 2-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court, in which the dispute related to the fixation of quota in respect of unaided professional institutions and to the holding of examinations for admission into such colleges. The interpretation put by a 5-Judge Bench in the case of Islamic Academy of Education v. State of Karnataka, (2003) 6 SCC 697, on the 11-Judge Bench decision in the case of T.M.A. Pai Foundation v. State of Karnataka, (2002) 8 SCC 481, was also in question. The 2-Judge Bench decided that the issues raised should be referred to a larger Bench for final determination having regard to the nature of the controversy involved in this case.
As an interim measure, for the academic year 2004-05, for the State of Karnataka, it was prima facie held in this case that the seats should be filled up by the institutions concerned in the ratio of 50:50 purely as a temporary measure and without prejudice to the contentions of the parties for the purpose of the final disposal.
Likewise, Interim orders were issued for certain colleges in State of Maharashtra.
I may point out that there is a separate decision of a Constitution Bench of 7-Judges reported vide P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra, (2005) 6 SCC 537 : AIR 2005 SC 3226. However, it appears that by mistake, instead of including this 7-judge decision in P.A. Inamdar case [(2005) 6 SCC 537], the above 2-judge bench decision in P.A. Inamdar case [(2004) 8 SCC 139] has been included in the syllabus of the “Leading Cases” paper of the SC AOR Examination. Therefore, these two cases should not be confused.
IMPORTANT: Read notes on other leading cases for the SC AOR Examination: AOR Series.
