Nirupama Mohapatra Vs State of Orissa

IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK

W.P. (C) No. 20320 of 2025

[An application challenging the action/inaction of the Opp.Parties in not granting benefits provided under Green Card Scheme for admission into B.Sc. Nursing Course under the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) 2025].

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Nirupama Mohapatra …. Petitioner -Versus- State of Orissa & Others …. Opposite Parties For Petitioner : M/s. Karunakar Rath, D.B. Rath, Smt. M. Sahoo, D.U. Rath and M. Mohapatra, Advocates. For Opp.Parties : Mr. Debaraj Mohanty along with Mr. S.B. Panda, Addl. Govt. Advocates (for Opp. Party No.1). M/s. Rajani Chandra Mohanty, K.C. Swain, S. Pattanaik and S.S. Sahoo, Advocates (for Opp. Party No.2). Mr. Subir Palit, Sr. Advocate along with Mr. Amitabh Mishra, Advocate (for Opp. Party No.3). ----------

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CORAM:

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HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE MANASH RANJAN PATHAK AND HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE MRUGANKA SEKHAR SAHOO

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J U D G M E N T

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Decided on : 10.09.2025

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PER MRUGANKA SEKHAR SAHOO, J .

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1. This matter was earlier listed for admission. Upon being mentioned by the learned counsel for the Petitioner that it involves admission to the course in Allied Medical Science, the Petitioner has qualified in OJEE and there is urgency, the matter was listed today for orders. Today the matter is finally heard on consent of the parties and is disposed of.

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2. Mr. Amitabh Mishra, learned counsel submits that he has instruction to appear along with Mr. Subir Palit, Sr. Advocate, for the Opposite Party No.3 (Chairman, OJEE). He files the Vakalatnama executed by Opp. Party No.3 and Memo of Appearance of Mr. Subir Palit, Sr. Advocate, which are taken on record. The scanned copy be updated accordingly.

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3. The Petitioner, a girl student, had applied and appeared in Odisha Joint Entrance Examination 2025 (hereinafter „OJEE‟) for admission in the Basic B.Sc. Nursing Course, vide Notification No. OJEE/029 dated 29.01.2025. For such admission, she had appeared in the OJEE and secured a rank. Her application was successful, as indicated from the message annexed to the writ petition at page 20, i.e. obtained from the https://dohodisha.nic.in/: DMET Odisha.

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The petitioner student had mentioned in the relevant column of the Application Form that she has Green-Card, as would be evident from Annexure-4, i.e. copy of the Application No. 20250303701. In the relevant column, she has marked „YES‟. Payment of fees of Rs.500/- has been acknowledged by the DMET on 26.06.2025.

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Page 2 of 7

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4. From our interaction with the learned counsels, it is not very clear how Annexure-5, i.e. in the copy of the Application of the Petitioner after verification, entry indicating “Have Green Card ? NO” was generated, i.e. whether at the end of the OJEE, Odisha, Opp.Party No.3 or the Counseling Authority, i.e. DMET, Govt. of Odisha (O.P.-2) being the authority for Nursing Counseling and Admission. We do not further examine the said aspect, as it does not have much bearing on the issues involved in the writ petition.

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5. We have gone through the counter affidavit filed on behalf of Opposite Party No.2 – DMET, Odisha and also heard at length the learned counsel Mr. Amitabh Mishra for the Opposite Party No.3 – Chairman, OJEE.

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It is conceded and agreed by all the Opp. Parties that the applicant is a child born to her father Shri Dillip Kumar Mohapatra and her mother Smt. Gouri Rani Mohapatra, w/o. Dillip Kumar Mohapatra. The authenticity of the Green-Card Certificate has not been questioned in any manner whatsoever.

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6. We have referred to the Green-Card, copy of which is available on record. The Green-Card at its 1^st page mentions the identification number given by the issuing authority : OR-GC No.90666, in the space indicating the name of the holder - Gouri Rani Mohapatra, village – Putina, P.O. – Putina, Dist. –Balasore, issued by the Govt. of Odisha, Health & Family Welfare Department. The 2^nd page gives the details, i.e. Name – Gouri Rani Mohapatra, Husband‟s name – Dilip Ku. Mohapatra, and Address, physical mark of identification of the card holder, date of sterilization operation of card holder.

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In the next table of the Green-Card, which is provided in a space of only few centimeters, three vertical columns have been adjusted, the first being : Name, second vertical column – Date of Birth, and the third vertical column – Relationship. In the said table/column, the relationship with the persons whose name has been indicated in the table as related to the person holding Green-Card, i.e. Smt. Gouri Rani Mohapatra, is given. Apparently, the table does not have enough space to indicate/write with pen in handwriting of the issuing authority to accommodate in 17 (seventeen) alphabets, those would be required to be mentioned if „Nirupama Mohapatra‟ will be written. In fact, all the three names in the table have been mentioned thus – (1) „Dilip Ku.‟, (2) „Nirupama‟, (3) „Anupama‟.

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It is apparent from the said table that, after writing the letters as would fill up the table, no further space is left to write anything more. We further notice that the 4^th and 5^th pages of the Green-Card bear the seals and signatures of the authorities, like Chief District Medical Officer, Assistant District Medical Officer and the details of the lady (mother of the petitioner) holding the Green Card and name of her husband. Again, in page-5, name of the lady Smt. Gouri Rani Mohapatra is indicated. At page 12 of the Green Card, the sanction of increment in salary of the husband of the card holder, i.e. father of the petitioner, certified by the authority with seal and signature dated 19.09.2014 is also mentioned.

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7. It is fairly conceded by the learned counsel appearing for the OJEE as well as the learned counsel appearing for the Counseling Authority : DMET, Odisha, that the authenticity of the Green Card and name of the parents are nowhere doubted, which are also reflected in the other testimonials and certificates, such as the Educational Certificate issued by

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Page 4 of 7

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the Council For The Indian School Certificate Examination, New Delhi bearing No. TF 90053129 and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (Class-X).

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8. The apparent reasons, those have been suggested by the Counseling Authority in their counter affidavit, for not entertaining the Green Card, could be found at paragraphs 8 and 9, which are reproduced hereunder –

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“8. That, furthermore, as per the prospectus (Annexure-A/2), under the heading “documents to be uploaded by the applicant” (Clause No.15), the following guideline is clearly reflected as under :-

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“Green Card (with all pages) issued by the CDM

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& PHO of the concerned district in case of candidate claiming the seat reserved for children of „Green Card Holders‟.”

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The name, fathers name, mothers name & date of birth of the candidate must have been mentioned clearly on this certificate and should tally with the data mentioned in the High School Certificate (If any discrepancy found, then the GC facility will not be applicable and the candidate will be considered in unreserved category). This facility of the Green Card must not have been used before by the same candidate. No affidavit or undertaking shall be accepted for consideration for the mismatch.

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9. That, during scrutinisation of the documents submitted by the Petitioner as well as in her online application, the discrepancy was found so far as Green Card is concerned. As per the 10^th Certificate, the name of the candidate is Nirupama Mohapatra, and her Father‟s name is Dillip Kumar Mohapatra. But in the Green Card submitted by her, it was mentioned only Nirupama as the candidate‟s name and Dillip Ku. As her father‟s name and both the certificates have mismatched.”

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Page 5 of 7

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On perusal of the copy of the Green Card and other documents, it has to be inferred that the petitioner-student has uploaded all the pages of Green Card. Name, father‟s name, mother‟s name and date of birth of the candidate has been clearly mentioned on the Green Card and the data tallies with the data mentioned in the High School Certificate, i.e. in the present case the ICSE (Class-X) certificate. Therefore, it has to be and is held that the Petitioner/student has complied with the guidelines, as specified in the prospectus for Counseling and Admission issued by the authority, as extracted above.

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9. Having gone through the said paragraphs from the counter filed by Opp. Party No.3, as extracted and quoted above, we find that the only reason that has weighed in the mind of the authorities is not that the parenthood of the candidate is not established, she being the daughter of the Green-Card holder, but since in the table at page-3 of the Green Card at Serial No.2, part of her full name „Nirupama‟ is mentioned without the surname „Mohapatra‟ being mentioned. In our view, such reasoning would not withstand judicial scrutiny, as the Green-Card holder is Smt. Gouri Rani Mohapatra, Nirupama Mohapatra being her daughter has applied referring to that Green Card in the OJEE and has secured a rank. However, the rank obtained by the Petitioner in the OJEE has been considered in the General Category.

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10. In view of the above discussions, we direct that the candidature of the Petitioner shall be considered in the Green-Card category and she shall be accordingly given the opportunity of taking admission in any college in accordance with her rank/position and merit.

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We have also noticed that, in paragraph 12 of the counter affidavit filed by Opposite Party No.2, it is stated that the petitioner‟s rank in the Green-Card category for taking admission to B.Sc. Nursing would be 213. However we are not emphasizing on the said rank, in as much as, we are giving liberty to the Opposite Parties to consider the candidature of the Petitioner in accordance with the rules/law, she being in the category of child of a “Green Card Holder”.

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11. We appreciate the contributions of the learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner, the learned Addl. Govt. Advocates as well as the learned counsels appearing for Opp. Party Nos.2 and 3 in assisting the Court for early disposal of the writ petition, when the matter involves the future of a young student seeking admission in Allied Medical Course. It is further expected that the authorities concerned shall take expeditious steps in the matter as per this order, as it is reported to us that the counseling and admission procedure is still continuing, which shall continue up to 30^th September, 2025.

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The writ petition is disposed of accordingly.

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Urgent certified copy be granted as per rules. Parties shall act upon the copy obtained from the official Website of the High Court of Orissa.

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(Manash Ranjan Pathak)

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Judge

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(Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo)

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Signature Not Verified Judge

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Digitally Signed Signed by: SAMIR KUMAR PARIDA Designation: ADR-cum-Addl. Principal Secretary Reason: Authentic Copy Location: ORISSA HIGH COURT, CUTDate: 15-Sep-2025 11:02:59 High Court of Oris TACK sa, Cuttack. The 10^th Day of September, 2025. S.K. Parida, ADR-cum-APS.

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Nirupama Mohapatra v. State of Orissa

Case brief

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Nirupama Mohapatra v. State of Orissa

Case brief

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