Amit Kanti Tripura vs The State of Tripura and Anr.

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HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA
AGARTALA



WP(C) No.645 of 2026


Amit Kanti Tripura, S/O. Manik Kishor Tripura, R/O. Village Gundadhar

Para, P.O.-Manu, Dhalai, Tripura-799275.
……… Petitioner(s).
V E R S U S
1. The State of Tripura, Through its Chief Secretary, New Capital Complex,
Agartala, Tripura-799006.

2. Directorate of Tribal Welfare, Government of Tripura, Through its Director,
Gurkhabasti P.N. Complex, Agartala, West Tripura, 799006.
……… Respondent(s).


For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Paul Kumar Kalai, Advocate,
Mr. D. Reang, Advocate.



For Respondent(s) : Mr. Kohinoor N Bhattacharyya, G.A.

HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. M.S. RAMACHANDRA RAO
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE BISWAJIT PALIT


CAV reserved on : 01.09.2026 .

Judgment delivered on : 17.09.2026.

Whether fit for reporting : NO .



JUDGMENT & ORDER
(M.S. Ramachandra Rao, C.J.)


Heard Mr. Paul Kumar Kalai, counsel appearing for the petitioner
and Mr. Kohinoor N Bhattacharyya, Government Advocate appearing for the
State respondents.
2. In this Writ Petition, the petitioner assails a notification issued by
the Tribal Welfare Department of the Government of Tripura on 27.07.2026.
3. Under this notification, the State Government formulated a
scheme called “Super 100 Scheme” from the financial year 2025-26 to
provide structured guidance, coaching and mentoring to students belonging to
the Scheduled Tribe community to equip them with the necessary skills and

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knowledge to compete effectively at the National Level for JEE/NEET/Civil
Service Examination (Prelims and mains examination).
4. The scheme contemplated that such students would be sponsored
for pursuing coaching for 12(twelve) months for Civil Service examination,
and for 24 months for JEE and NEET examinations and earmarked such
sponsorship to 60 students for JEE/NEET and to 40 students for Civil Service
examination coaching.
5. However, in Clause (6) of the said notification, it prescribed a
cutoff mark of 60% in Class-IX in subjects of Science, Mathematics for JEE/
NEET and 60% in the Graduation course for aspirants for the Civil Service
examination.
6. The notification further provided that a selection test would be
conducted to select the 100 most meritorious students as per merit and they
would be called to attend counseling programme on certain due dates which
would be advertised on the website of the department.
7. The Writ petitioner contends that the prescription of the 60%
marks to avail this sponsorship for coaching for JEE/NEET and Civil Service
examination under the impugned notification is arbitrary, and that since the
Writ petitioner has not secured the said percentage of marks in his Bachelor of
Arts (Honours Course), he has been deprived of the opportunity to avail
coaching for Civil Service examination.
8. He contends that it is wrong to presume that a person who scored
less than 60% in graduation cannot pass competitive examinations, and that
there were many cases where similarly situated students had cleared the UPSC
examination despite having low percentage in graduation. According to him,

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putting a complete ban from participating in the scheme to persons like the
petitioner is arbitrary and unjust and that candidate should be allowed to
participate in the test for being selected in the scheme.
9. Counsel for the petitioner reiterated the said submissions.
10. It is undoubtedly true that there is a substantial tribal population
in the State of Tripura consisting approximately 31.76% of the total
population as per the 2011 census.
11. To ensure equal educational opportunities and career
advancement for tribal students, the Tribal Welfare Department of the
Government of Tripura had notified the subject scheme titled “Super 100
Scheme” to sponsor Scheduled Tribe students for coaching to JEE/NEET and
the Civil Service examination from the financial year 2025-26. The scheme
would provide structured guidance, coaching and mentoring to Scheduled
Tribe students and equip them with necessary skills and knowledge to

compete effectively at the National Level after passing in these examinations.
12. Obviously, keeping in mind the financial constraints being faced
by the State of Tripura, the State Government proposed to limit the benefit of
the scheme only to 100 students, who would be selected through an
examination on the basis of merit inter se .
13. Probably anticipating that if the cutoff mark (such as 60%) in the
qualifying examination of Class-IX or graduation is not fixed, it would have to
deal with a huge number of applications for sponsorship for coaching for the
JEE/NEET and Civil Service examination, it chose to fix the said cutoff.

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14. Matters of this nature fall in the realm of administrative policy.
There is nothing unreasonable in the State Government choosing a particular
cutoff for deciding who would participate in the selection test for getting the
benefit of sponsorship for coaching for the above examinations. It is not
within the jurisdiction of this Court to enter into the arena of administrative
policy normally, in a situation like the instant case where there does not
appear to be anything arbitrary or illogical in fixing the cutoff mark.
15. This is because the State Government probably felt that people
who cross 60% in the qualifying examination would have sufficient
intelligence and better chances to get into the professional Engineering and
Medical colleges or qualify in the Civil Service examinations. We do not find
anything arbitrary in that presumption.
16. Merely because some people who got less than 60% marks in the
qualifying examination might also get selected for the Engineering, Medical
courses and in Civil Services, that would not make the scheme notified by the
State Government in anyway arbitrary, unreasonable or violative of Article 14
of the Constitution of India.
17. For the aforesaid reasons, we do not find any merit in the Writ
Petition. It is accordingly dismissed. No costs.
Pending application(s), if any, also stands disposed of.


(BISWAJIT PALIT, J) (M.S. RAMACHANDRA RAO, CJ)


Pulak
PULAK BANIK
Digitally signed by PULAK BANIK
Date: 2026.09.17 13:48:03 +05'30'