JUDGMENT L. MOHAPATRA, J. — The petitioner in this writ applica¬tion has prayed for a direction to the opposite parties to pro¬vide a set in the M.B.B.S. Course for the session 2002-2003 and also quash Annexure-2 in which he has been intimated by the Chairman, Admission Sub-Committee, JEE (E & M), 2002 that his case could not be considered for admission into M.B.B.S. Course as a Scheduled Caste candidate. 2. Case of the petitioner is that he was an applicant for admission to the First Year Degree Course in Medicine (BDS) for the academic session 2002-2003 and appeared in the Joint Entrance Examination having been assigned Roll No. SM 54369C. His further case is that he was declared successful in the entrance examina¬tion and his name appeared against Sl. No. 25 in the merit list of Scheduled Caste candidates within the reserved category. According to the petitioner one Satyanarayan Behera who also applied as a Scheduled Caste candidate secured first position in the reserved category for Scheduled Caste and 220th position in the general category. It was submitted on behalf of the petition¬er that had admission of said Satyanaryan Behera been made against general category he would have got chance to take admis¬sion in M.B.B.S. Course since 24th candidate in the reserved category for Scheduled Caste had been admitted into the M.B.B.S. Course and he being the 25th candidate in the merit list, was entitled to a seat in the M.B.B.S. Course. 3. A preliminary counter-affidavit has been filed on behalf of the opposite parties wherein it is stated that said Satyanaryan Behera who had secured first position in the reserved category of Scheduled Caste candidates and also secured 220th position in the general category did not appear at the counsel¬ling on 28th June, 2002 when candidates within Sl. Nos.1 to 300 in the merit list of general category were informed to appear at the time of counselling. It is further submitted that said Saty¬anaryan Behera appeared on 29th June, 2002 when counselling was done for the candidates belonging to reserved category and ac¬cordingly he having secured first position in the said category of Scheduled Caste was admitted. According to the opposite par¬ties said Satyanarayan Behera having exercised his option for being admitted as a candidate belonging to reserved category, his admission could not have been adjusted against general category. According to the opposite par¬ties said Satyanarayan Behera having exercised his option for being admitted as a candidate belonging to reserved category, his admission could not have been adjusted against general category. Apart from the above, the opposite parties have contended in their counter that representation made by the petitioner to the Chairman was considered and rejected in view of the reasons stated above and intimation was given to him vide Annexure-2. It is also stated in the counter-affidavit that the petitioner has taken admission into the BDS Course, in the S.C.B. Medical Col¬lege, Cuttack. 4. Shri S.C. Mohanty, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner urged two points for consideration by this Court. (1) Shri Satyanarayan Behera who secured first position in the merit list in the reserved category of Scheduled Caste had also secured 220th position in the general category. According to Sri Mohanty when a candidate belonging to reserved category, on his own merit also becomes eligible to take admission as a candi¬date belonging to general category, such admission cannot be taken as admission from the reserved category. On the basis of the above analogy, it is contended by Sri Mohanty that had the admission of Sri Satyanarayan Behera been adjusted against gener¬al category, one seat in the reserved category of Scheduled Caste would have been made available. He further contended that 24th candidate in the select list having got admission and the peti¬tioner being the 25th candidate, said seat could have been made available to him. (2) The second point raised by Sri Mohanty is that while calculating number of seats that should be available to the reserved category instead of taking into account the total number of seats available, the opposite parties took into consideration the number of seats after deduction of 15% All India Quota. 5. Shri Sahu, learned counsel for the Opposite party No.1, on the other hand, contended that 193 seats were available to be filled up in the general category whereas the position of Sri Satyanaryan Behera was 220th in the merit list in the general category. When counselling was done on 28th June, 2002 for gener¬al category said Satyanarayan Behera did not appear and he ap¬peared for counselling on 29th June, 2002 for the reserved cate¬gory. When counselling was done on 28th June, 2002 for gener¬al category said Satyanarayan Behera did not appear and he ap¬peared for counselling on 29th June, 2002 for the reserved cate¬gory. According to Sri Sahu, said Satyanarayan Behera having exercised his option to be admitted against reserved category and there being no seat available in the general category on 29th June, 2002 question of adjusting admission of Sri Behera against the general category did not arise. Shri Sahu further submitted that the number of seats calculated for the purpose of reserva¬tion in different categories are to be done only after deduction of All India Quota from the total number of seats available in three colleges and therefore there is no illegality in such computation of seats so far as reserve categories are concerned. 6. There is no dispute that 321 seats are available in the three Medical Colleges of the State. There is also no dispute that 15% of the seats are reserved for All India Quota and there¬fore All India Quota comes to 48. After deduction of said 48 seats, it appears that only 273 seats were available to be filled up. From out of the said 273 seats, 12% (33 seats) are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, 8% (22 seats) are reserved for Scheduled Castes, 5%(14 seats) are reserved for children of Green Card Holders; 3 seats for Physically Handicapped persons and 8 seats are reserved for children of Military personnel. After deduction of all the reserved seats, only 193 seats were available to the general category. Undisputedly Sri Satyanarayan Behera secured first position in the reserved category of Scheduled Caste and 220th position in the merit list of general category. Counselling for general category was held on 28th June, 2002 when Sri Behera did not appear and in the counselling held on 29th June, 2002 for reserved category Shri Behera appeared and took admission. In view of the aforesaid undisputed facts, question that arises for consideration is whether admission of Sri Behera against reserved category could be adjusted against general category so as to make one seat available for reserved category of Scheduled Caste. Shri Mohanty, learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance a decision of the Apex Court in the case of Ritest R. Sah -v- Dr. Y.L. Yamul and others, reported in AIR 1996 S.C. 1378 . Shri Mohanty, learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance a decision of the Apex Court in the case of Ritest R. Sah -v- Dr. Y.L. Yamul and others, reported in AIR 1996 S.C. 1378 . After carefully going through the said judgment we are afraid that it has no application to the facts of the present case and rather supports the case of the opposite parties to some extent. The Apex Court in the said decision observed as follows : “ A student who is entitled to be admitted on the basis of merit though belonging to a reserved category cannot be consid¬ered to be admitted against seats reserved for reserved category. But at the same time the provisions should be so made that it will not work out to the disadvantage of such candidate and he may not be placed at a more disadvantageous position than the other less meritorious reserved category candidates. The afore¬said objective can be achieved if after finding out the candi¬dates from amongst the reserved category who would otherwise come to the open merit list and then asking their option for admission into the different colleges which have been kept reserved for reserved category and thereafter the cases of less meritorious reserved category candidates should be considered and they will be allotted seats in whichever colleges the seats should be available. In other words, while a reserved category candidate entitled to admission on the basis of his merit will have the option of taking admission to the colleges where a specified number of seats have been kept reserved for reserved category but while computing the percentage of reservation he will be deemed to have been admitted as a open category candidate and not as a reserved category candidate.” In the aforesaid decision the Apex Court in clear terms has observed that even though a candidate belonging to reserved category is admitted on the basis of the merit in the general category cannot be considered to have been admitted against the seats reserved for reserved category. But at the same time the provisions should be so made that it will not work out to the disadvantage of such candidate and he may not be placed at a more disadvantageous position than the other less meritorious reserved category candidates. But at the same time the provisions should be so made that it will not work out to the disadvantage of such candidate and he may not be placed at a more disadvantageous position than the other less meritorious reserved category candidates. The Apex Court further observed that the aforesaid objective can be achieved if after finding out the candidates from amongst the reserved category who would otherwise come to the open merit list and then asking their option for admission into the different colleges which have been kept reserved for reserved category and thereafter the cases of less meritorious reserved category candidates should be considered and they will be allotted seats in whichever colleges the seats should be available. The aforesaid view has also been relied upon by this Court in the case of Ms. Sunayana Mohanty -v- Chairman, Admission Sub-Committee & others, in O.J.C.No. 7231 of 2000 disposed of on 14.3.2002. In the case of Rajiv Mittal -v- Ma¬harshi Dayananda University and others, reported in (1998)2 S.C.C. 402 the Apex Court also observed that the system of coun¬selling for the purpose of granting admission to various medical colleges in the State is now regarded as a most equitable one where options are given of various seats to the students in accordance with their overall merit position in the combined entrance examination. In the said case, the Apex Court further held that when a reserved candidate finds place in the merit list both as reserved category as well as general candidate but is able to secure admission in first counselling as a reserved category candidate, cannot be adjusted against general seat though his turn for admission comes in the subsequent counselling for general category also. In the present case, there is no dispute that on 28.6.2002 counselling was done for the general category and all the 193 seats were filled up. There is also no dispute that on 29th June, 2002 counselling was done for the reserved candidates and said Sri Satyanarayana Behera took admis¬sion against reserved category of Scheduled Caste. It is there¬fore evident that on 29.6.2002 there was no seat available in the general category for adjustment of admission of Sri Satyanarayan Behera against general category even though he had also secured 220th position in the merit list in the general category. It is there¬fore evident that on 29.6.2002 there was no seat available in the general category for adjustment of admission of Sri Satyanarayan Behera against general category even though he had also secured 220th position in the merit list in the general category. More¬over, Sri Behera having exercised his option of being admitted against the seats in reserved category, we cannot find any fault with the opposite parties in not adjusting his admission against general category to which neither Sri Behera opted nor any seat was available for such adjustment. We, therefore, do not find any merit in the first point raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner. 7. So far as second point raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner is concerned, we do not find any force in such contention. Admittedly, 321 seats are available in all the three medical colleges of the State out of which 15% are to be treated as All India Quota. Fifteen percentage of 321 seats comes to 48 and for the purpose of computation of number of seats in the reserved category the aforesaid 48 seats could not have been taken into consideration by the opposite parties and therefore the balance number of seats which worked out to 273 were taken into consideration for the purpose of computation of number of seats that are to be made available for reserved category. 8. In view of the discussions made above, we do not find merit in the writ application and the same stands dismissed. P. K. MOHANTY, J. I agree. Petition dismissed.