Handibandhu Rautharao & Ors Vs.
State of Orissa & Ors [1985] INSC 144 (1 July 1985)
CHANDRACHUD, Y.V. ((CJ) CHANDRACHUD, Y.V.
((CJ) PATHAK, R.S.
MUKHARJI, SABYASACHI (J)
CITATION: 1985 SCR Supl. (1) 810 1985 SCC (4)
47 1985 SCALE (2)99
ACT:
Constitution of India, Article 32-Admission
to Post Graduate courses in medical colleges-Substantial change in the scheme
of grating admissions to Post Graduate Courses- Whether constitutes
infringement of fundamental right to admission-Scheme formulated.
HEADNOTE:
Until the academic session 1978-79, the Post
Graduate Medical course in the State of Orissa was envisaged as a course of
three years duration which period included an appointment for one year on the
Resident House Staff.
Admission to the three year course was made
through an Entrance Examination, and after completing the Resident House Staff
appointment, there was no further examination for admission to the Post
Graduate course. The scheme was changed with effect from the session 1978-79
and the Resident House Staff course was delinked from the Post Graduate course.
Accordingly, separate competitive examinations were prescribed for recruitment
to the Resident House Staff and the Post Graduate course. A candidate appearing
in the entrance examination for Post Graduate course should have passed the
final M.B.B.S. examination, satisfactorily completed the internship, acquired
full registration and in addition should have completed the Resident House
Staff term in a subject during one year.
The petitioner/medical graduates from the
State of Orissa filed writ petitions in Supreme Court challenging the new
scheme, under which it became necessary for the candidates seeking provisional
admission to a Post Graduate course to appear again at an examination for such
admission after completing the Resident House Staff appointment. They contended
that under the original scheme they were entitled to take the Entrance
Examination for recruitment to the Resident House Staff at any recognised
institution in the country, even though it lay outside the State of Orissa and
on completing that course they were entitled without more to admission to a
Post Graduate Medical course in a Medical College in Orissa. Some of the
petitioners had already taken the examination for recruitment to the Resident
House Staff in a Medical College in Orissa and successfully completed that
course and they also objected to the requirement envisaged by the new scheme.
Disposing of the Writ Petitions, the Court,
811 ^
HELD: 1. It is consistent with reason and
justice that those petitioners before the Supreme Court who were either
pursuant to the relief granted by the A High Court or in compliance with
interim order made by the Supreme Court, granted admission to a Post Graduate
Medical course and have since completed that course and after having appeared
in the examination for the academic year 1981-82 been declared successful,
should not be disturbed and should be allowed the benefit of the success at the
examination. Therefore, these admissions are affirmed. [815 D-E]
2. The provisional admission of some of the
petitioners to a Post Graduate course by tho Medical Colleges in Orissa in
compliance with the interim orders of this Court made on different dates,
should be regarded as an admission of final validity entitling them to its
consequential benefits, since they have completed the Post Graduate Course.
[815 F-G]
3. There are writ petitions in which this
Court directed the provisional admission of the petitioners but they could not
be admitted because of the non-availablity of seats and in some of the writ
petitions no order for provisional admission of the petitioners has been made
by the Supreme Court. They are disposed of as follows:- Since the scheme
respecting admission to the Post Graduate Medical course has been modified
again and the present position, enunciated in the prospectus for the year
1982-83 is that medical graduates who have appeared and been selected at the
examination for recruitment to the Resident House Staff are entitled automatically,
on successfully completing that term of appointment, to admission to the Post
Graduate course, and no Entrance Examination specifically for such examination
is now contemplated, this Court directs that those petitioners who have
successfully completed the term of one year as Resident House Staff in the
medical Colleges of Orissa will be entitled without having to appear at any
further Entrance Examination to admission to the relevant Post Graduate course.
However, those petitioners who have completed the term as Resident House Staff
in approved Medical institutions in India other than the Medical Colleges in
Orissa should be permitted to appear at the Entrance Examination prescribed for
appointment to the Resident House Staff, and that if they are successful in the
said Entrance Examination, they will be entitled to admission to the relevant
Post Graduate course for the next following session without being obliged to
work on the Resident House Staff in the Medical Colleges in Orissa. This
arrangement entitling these petitioners to admission to a Post Graduate course
without having to fill a Resident House Staff appointment will obtain only if
they appear for the entrance examination for appointment as Resident House
Staff in the same subject in which they claim to have already served as
Resident House Staff earlier. If, however-and it will be open to them to do so
they appear at the entrance examination in a different subject, and are
successful therein they shall be obliged to serve for the stipulated term in a
Resident House Staff appointment in relation to that subject before being
entitled, of the completion of that term, to admission in the corresponding
Post Graduate course. [816A; 819 C-E; 817 A-D] 812
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition No.
1756 of 1981 etc. etc.
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of
India.
G.L. Sanghi, V.M. Tarkunde, B.P. Maheshwari,
B.P. Singh, A.K. Panda, Mrs. Uma Jain, M.A. Firoz, Dr. B.S. Chuahan, J.R. Das,
M.C. Dhingra, Ambrish Kumar, R.B.B. Ray, V.B. Joshi, B. Parthasarthi and C.S.S.
Rao for the appearing Petitioners.
e R.N. Keshwani for the Respondent Nos. 3 to
10.
M.K. Banerjee, Additional Solicitor General,
D.P. Mahapatra and K.K. Mehta for the Respondent. (State of Orissa) The
Judgment of the Court was delivered by PATHAK,J: The petitioners are medical
graduates who took the M. B. B. S. degree in the year 1978 from Medical
Colleges in the State of Orissa. In the year 1979 they underwent a one year
period of internship at the Medical Colleges from which they had graduated. The
petitioners allege that thereafter, having passed the pertinent examination for
recruitment to the Resident House Staff, they completed the one year term of
appointment either in the Wilmington Hospital, New Delhi, or in the Post
Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Chandigarh. Upon the conclusion of
their term on the Resident House Staff by the end of the year 1980, the
petitioners contend that they became entitled to admission to a Post Graduate
course at a Medical College in Orissa. The duration of that course, according
to the petitioners, is two years. The grievance of the petitioners is that the
Medical Colleges in the State of Orissa have new put into force a different
scheme, under which it has become necessary for candidates seeking admission to
a Post Graduate course to appear at an examination for such admission after
completing the Resident House Staff appointment. The petitioners urge that they
are not obliged to appear at any such examination and are entitled as of right
to admission in the Post Graduate course.
It appears that until the academic session
1978-79 the Post Graduate course was envisaged as a course of three years
duration, which period included an appointment for one year on the Resident
House Staff. Admission to the three year course was made through 813 an
Entrance Examination, and after completing the Resident House Staff appointment
there was no further examination for admission to the Post Graduate course. The
scheme was changed with effect from the session 1978-79, purportedly to give
effect to the recommendation of the Indian Medical Council that the Resident
House Staff course should be delinked from the Post Graduate course.
Accordingly, two separate Prospectuses were envisaged, one for the Resident
House Staff course and the other for the Post Graduate course. A competitive
examination was held for recruitment to the Resident House Staff, and all
candidates who had passed the final M.B.B.S. examination and had completed
their Compulsory Rotating Internship and had obtained full registration were
eligible to appear at that competitive examination. There was a separate
entrance examination for admission to the Post Graduate Course. A candidate
appearing thereat should have passed the final M.B.B.S. examination,
satisfactorily completed the internship, acquired full registration and in
addition should have completed the Resident House Staff term in a subject
during one year. It appears that in some subjects, where there was a dearth of
candidates and the posts in the colleges were not being filled in, it was
convenient to prescribe only one examination, the entrance examination for
recruitment to the Resident House Staff, and in those subjects the second
entrance examination specifically intended for the post Graduate course was not
prescribed. The students in those subjects, on completing the one years
Resident House Staff appointment, were automatically admitted to the Post
Graduate course.
These changes evidently caused considerable
dismay among those medical graduates who had already taken the M.B.B.S. degree
from a Medical College in Orissa and had embarked on a course of conduct,
consistent with the terms of the original scheme, which would suffice to secure
them admission to a Post Graduate course in the Medical colleges of Orissa. The
petitioners say that under the original scheme they were entitled to take the
entrance examination for recruitment to the Resident House Staff at any
recognised institution in the country, even though it lay outside the State of
Orissa, and on completing that course they were entitled without more to
admission to a Post Graduate Medical Course in a Medical College in Orissa.
There were also students who had taken the
examination for recruitment to the Resident House Staff in a Medical College in
Orissa and had successfully completed that course, and they objected to the 814
requirement envisaged by the new scheme that they should appear for a separate
entrance examination for admission to a Post Graduate course in the Medical Colleges
of the State.
This discontent among the Medical Graduate
body led to litigation in the High Court of Orissa. Eight medical graduates,
who had taken the M. B. B. S. degree at a Medical College in Orissa, had
completed the period of internship and thereafter had also completed a period
of one year on the Resident House Staff in Medical Colleges in Orissa, filed a
writ petition, Dr. Sidhartha Das & Others v. State of Orissa, challenging
the validity of the requirement in the Prospectus for the year 1978-79
requiring candidates for admission to a Post Graduate course in certain
subjects to appear at an entrance examination for that purpose. On March 5,
1981, the High Court allowed the writ petition and directed the respondents to
permit those petitioners to enter upon the relevant Post Graduate course
without any further entrance examination. In compliance with the judgment and
order of the High Court all tho eight petitioners were admitted to the Post
Graduate course desired by them.
A number of other writ petitions were filed
in the High Court by medical graduates but they were opposed on the ground that
those petitioners had been admitted to Resident House Staff appointments under
the Prospectus for the year 1978-79 and, therefore, they were obliged to appear
for the second selection examination. It was pointed out that they formed a
different class from the medical graduates who had succeeded in the earlier
writ petition and were, therefore, not entitled to the benefit of the decision
concluding that case. The High Court declined to enter into the merits of the
controversy because it was found that even if relief was granted there were no
seats available for accommodating those petitioners.
The hearing in the present cases was marked
by much learned argument on the part of counsel for the petitioners and the
Additional Solicitor General of India appearing for the State of Orissa. The
respondent Universities, the Behrampur University, the Sambalpur University and
the Utkal University had been served with notice but did not enter appearance.
During the hearing it became evident that a proper solution of the controversy
lay not in 815 an adjudication on the merits of the points raised thereby but
in formulating a scheme designed and defined by the equitable realities of the
situation. In appreciation of this perspective, learned counsel suggested
several alternatives. After carefully weighing them, we propose to dispose of
the cases before us in the following terms.
The petitioners in these cases can be classified
into four groups.
Groups A consists of Writ Petitions Nos 2756,
2829, 3782 and 4489 of 1981 etc. The medical graduates in all these cases
consist of petitioners who either pursuant to the relief granted by the High
Court or in compliance with interim orders made by this Court were granted
admission to a Post Graduate Medical course and have since completed that
course, and after having appeared in the examination for the academic year
1981-82 they have been declared successful. It is consistent with reason and
justice that they should not be disturbed and should be allowed the benefit of
their success at the examination. Accordingly, we direct that while the
admission of the medical graduates made in compliance with the order dated
March 5, 1981 of the High Court is affirmed the interim orders made by this
Court in other cases directing the provisional admission of the petitioners
therein should now be translated into a final order disposing of the writ
petitions and giving final legal status to their admission.
Group B consists of Writ Petitions Nos. 2692,
3863, and 7031 of 1981 and 2237 of 1982. etc. This group consists of medical
graduates who were granted provisional admission to a Post Graduate course by
the Medical Colleges in Orissa in compliance with the interim orders of this
Court made on different dates. We are informed that the petitioners have
completed the Post Graduate course and in the circumstances we are not inclined
to disturb their admission. We direct that the provisional admission of those
petitioners should be regarded as an admission of final validity entitling them
to its consequential benefits.
Group consists of Writ Petitions Nos. 4356,
4357-58, 5013, 5014-16, 5037-38, 5039-40, 5103-04, 5109-10, 5460-64, 5457-59,
5483-84 of 1982 etc. They are cases in which this Court directed 816 the
provisional admission of the petitioners, but the petitioners could not be
admitted because of the non- availability of seats. Indeed, an application has
been filed by the respondents for recalling the order directing provisional
admission.
Group consist of Writ Petitions Nos. 5505,
5629, 5630- 34 5635-36, 5692-93, 6492, 6803, 8029, 9348, 9349, and Transfer
Petition No. 195 of 1982 etc. They are cases where no order for provisional
admission of the petitioners has been made by this Court.
In regard to groups and there was
considerable debate between learned counsel for the parties on whether any
relief was admissible in favour of the petitioners comprising these two groups
and, if at all, what should be the nature and content of such relief. It is
admitted, however, by the learned Additional Solicitor General that the scheme
respecting admission to the Post Graduate Medical courses has been modified
again and the present position, enunciated in the Prospectus for the year
1982-83, is that medical graduates who have appeared and been selected at the
examination for recruitment to the Resident House Staff are entitled
automatically, on successfully completing that term of appointment, to admission
to a Post Graduate courses and no entrance examination specifically for such
admission is now contemplated. We direct, in the circumstances that those
petitioners who have successfully completed the term of one year as Resident
House Staff in the Medical Colleges of Orissa will be entitled, without having
to appear at any further entrance examination, to admission to the relevant
Post Graduate course. There are other petitioners in these groups who have
completed the term as Resident House Staff but have done so in approved medical
institutions in India other than the Medical Colleges in Orissa, and some may
have done so after successfully appearing at an entrance test prescribed for
admitting them to those appointments. It is contended that they are not entitled
to join a Post Graduate course in the Medical Colleges of Orissa without first
appearing successfully at the entrance test prescribed for appointment to the
Resident House Staff in those Medical Colleges. We have considered the several
alternatives placed before us by the parties, and it seems that having regard
to the considerable constraints imposed by the guidelines framed by the Indian
Medical Council, to which our attention has been drawn, and the limited number
of seats permitted accordingly, the only feasible solution must be that which
we formulate now. We direct that the petitioners falling in Group C 817 and
Group should be permitted to appear at the entrance examination prescribed for
appointment to the Resident House Staff, and that if they are successful in the
said entrance examination they will be entitled to admission to the relevant
Post Graduate course for the next following session without being obliged to
work on the Resident House Staff in the Medical Colleges in Orissa. They may, of
course, offer themselves, without being obliged to do so, for Resident House
Staff appointment before admission to the Post Graduate course, if there are
vacancies occasioned by the exigencies of medical administration. At the same
time, we make it clear that the arrangement entitling these petitioners to
admission to a Post Graduate course without having to fill a Resident House
Staff appointment will obtain only if they appear for the entrance examination
for appointment as Resident House Staff in the same subject in which they claim
to have already served as Resident House Staff earlier. If, however and it will
be open to them to do so-they appear at the entrance examination in a different
subject, and are successful therein, they shall be obliged to serve for the
stipulated term in a Resident House Staff appointment in relation to that
subject before being entitled, on the completion of that term, to admission in
the corresponding Post Graduate course.
The writ petitions are disposed of
accordingly. There is no order as to costs.
M.L.A.
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