AMITABH SHRIVASTAVA vs STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH & ORS.

The Supreme Court held that the reduction of minimum qualifying marks to 43% by an executive order was not provided for in the statutory rules, thus Rule 9 could not be applied at that stage. The appellant, who scored 43.6% in the aggregate, should have been admitted under the reserved category for sons and daughters of military personnel, as the difference in marks was negligible and did not justify exclusion based on merit. The Court allowed the appeal, emphasizing adherence to the reservation rules over strict merit-based selection.