NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed a 28-year-old man to participate in counselling for admission in Bachelors of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry degree course, whose upper age limit is 25 years.
A division bench of Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh asked the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and the Veterinary Council of India to process the admission in accordance with the law. The matter is slated for February 15 for hearing.
Petitioner Gajanand Mishra, an aspirant, had challenged the upper age limit of 25 years as a criterion for admission to the course.
The age limit was brought by the government under Regulation 6 of the Veterinary Council of India Minimum Standards of Veterinary Education - (Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry - Degree Course) Regulations, 2016.
The petitioner states that the regulation is violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
Mishra said that by stipulating an upper age limit for admissions in the degree course, the respondent has created an invidious classification by dividing one class of students into "two artificial and irrational classes".
"Fixing of the maximum age limit is neither in furtherance of the objective behind formulating the 2016 Regulations, nor does it fit into the scheme of the Regulations which have been primarily framed to maintain standards of veterinary education, " plea had said.