Freedom Fighter’s Granddaughter Fails to Secure 2% MBBS Reservation in Bihar as Patna HC Finds No Policy Extending It to Medical Admissions

In brief

The question

1. Whether the petitioner was entitled to 2% horizontal reservation as a freedom fighter’s dependent in MBBS admissions in Bihar

The court held

The Court held that, in the absence of an applicable policy or statutory provision granting horizontal reservation to freedom fighters’ dependants in MBBS admissions, it could not grant the petitioner relief.

It also directed

The writ petition was dismissed, without preventing the petitioner from pursuing any other remedy available in law.

01Facts

The petitioner, who scored 439/720 in NEET-UG 2026, sought 2% horizontal reservation in Bihar MBBS counselling as the maternal granddaughter of a recognised freedom fighter.

¶ 2–3

She relied on the Bihar Gazette notification dated 3 September 2015 and argued that the State had extended the benefit to freedom fighters’ dependants in other contexts.

¶ 3–4

The State and the BCECEB opposed the claim, submitting that the 2015 notification concerned State employment and that no applicable provision granted the reservation for MBBS admissions.

¶ 5, 8

The petitioner also relied on All Kerala Parents’ Assn. of Hearing Impaired v. State of Kerala, (2018) 2 SCC 410.

¶ 4

02Issues

i.1. Whether the petitioner was entitled to 2% horizontal reservation as a freedom fighter’s dependent in MBBS admissions in Bihar

¶ 3, 9

ii.2. Whether All Kerala Parents’ Assn. of Hearing Impaired v. State of Kerala supported extending that reservation in the absence of an applicable State policy or statutory provision

¶ 4, 10

03Law Applied

The Court considered the Bihar notification dated 9 September 2003, which governed reservations for admission to educational institutions, and the notification dated 3 September 2015, which provided horizontal reservation for dependants of freedom fighters in State Government appointment, recruitment or selection; neither provided for the claimed reservation in MBBS admissions.

¶ 5, 9

It distinguished All Kerala Parents’ Assn. of Hearing Impaired v. State of Kerala, (2018) 2 SCC 410, because that decision concerned Section 39 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, a statutory mandate requiring reservation for persons with disabilities in specified educational institutions.

¶ 10

Provisions in the judgment · 1

Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection Of Rights And Full Participation) Act, 1995 Section 39

04Reasoning

The Court found that the 2003 notification did not provide 2% horizontal reservation for freedom fighters’ dependants in educational admissions, while the 2015 notification applied to State employment rather than admission to educational institutions.

¶ 9

Although the State had extended the benefit in relation to some educational courses, the petitioner identified no notification or statute extending it to MBBS admissions.

¶ 9

The statutory basis in the cited Supreme Court decision was therefore absent, and that precedent did not establish a right to the claimed reservation.

¶ 10–11