Dr.
Dinesh Kumar & Ors Vs. Motilal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad & Ors
[1987] INSC 196 (3 August 1987)
MISRA
RANGNATH MISRA RANGNATH DUTT, M.M. (J) CITATION: 1987 AIR 2396 1987 SCR (3) 744
1987 SCC (4) 122 JT 1987 (3) 228 1987 SCALE (2)169
ACT:
Professional
Colleges--Medical Colleges--Admission to MBBS/ BDS Course Implementation of
Scheme and holding of All India Entrance Examination for filling up of 15% re-
served seats--Directions of Court.
HEADNOTE:
Pursuant
to this Court's directions regarding the reservation of seats for admission to
different courses of study such as MBBS/BDS and Post Graduate Specialties and
holding of an All India Entrance Examination there for, contained in its
judgment delivered in a group of writ petitions on June 22, 1984, a Scheme was
prepared by the Medical Council of India, in consultation with various
authorities, and submit- ted to the Court.
The
Court considered the said Scheme along with objections and, by its order dated
July 21, 1986 approved the Scheme and the syllabus with modifications and the
States were directed to bring their syllabi for the 12th year in line with the
syllabus approved by this Court. The Central Board of Secondary Education was
directed to hold the All India Entrance Examination. The Scheme was intended to
be implemented from the 1985-86 academic session but was deferred to 1986-87
academic session and later to 1987-88 academic session.
The
revised Schemes in accordance with the Court's directions were not placed
before the Court for confirmation/ finalisation in the manner indicated by the
Court and when the concerned authorities proceeded with making necessary
arrangements for holding the All India Entrance Examination, several
applications were moved objecting to the holding of the examination, in the
absence of final clearance from this Court.
On
30th April, 1987 this Court restrained the States and their respective medical
colleges from filling up the 15% reserved seats in the first year MBBS course
until further orders, and the States which had not filed their objections were
directed to do so.
745
Several States filed objections. The common objection was that more time was
needed to conveniently adapt to the switch-over as contemplated by the Scheme
and. therefore, implementation of the Scheme under the main judgment should be
deferred at least for two more years. Another objection was that the
syllabus-curriculum of study--in some of the States being different from the
syllabus formulated under the orders of this Court, the students would be
handicapped when taking the entrance examination. Yet another objection was
that the medium of study in the qualifying course being the State language, it
would be difficult for the students to take the All India Entrance Examination
in English.
This
Court, disposing of the objections,
HELD:
1.1 ours is a large country and the level of education is not uniform
throughout. Undoubtedly some States are more advanced than others in the field
of education. The idea underlying the Scheme is to bring about a national
cohesion and understanding and the Scheme has to be looked at from that stand
point. In introducing a Scheme of this type which requires a switch-over from
the prevailing pattern, there is bound to be some inconvenience. Whether it is introduced
now or two years after, it would indeed bring about a feeling of anxiety and
uncertainty till one gets used to it. This is a part of human nature. There is
general welcome to the Scheme, but there is an objection to its implementation.
The Scheme is intended to be implemented and if the Scheme is welcome, its
implementation should also be received well. There could, therefore, be no room
for objection at the thrash hold. [754E-F]
1.2
It would be appropriate to bring the Scheme into operation from the coming year
so that all the preliminaries can be properly conducted and in regular course
the students can seek admission to the 1988-89 sessions. Accordingly, the
authorities will hold the examination in June, 1988. [755C] It may be open to
the State of Punjab to apply for directions of this Court when the Scheme is
about to be implemented in case the present law and order situation continues.
[754D]
1.3
As the Scheme syllabus had already been prepared, the Court had indicated in
the order of July 21, 1986 that the courses of study at least for the 12th
Class should be so changed as to fit into the syllabus. The State Government
should have taken immediate steps for that purpose. Now that implementation of
the Scheme is being deferred till the next session, a gap of almost two years
would have intervened between the earlier order of the Court and the time when
the Scheme would be implemented. The implementation of the Scheme cannot,
therefore, be deferred any further beyond the coming session. [753A, C]
1.4
The medium of study of the MBBS course being in English, those students who
propose to study the MBBS have got to be reasonably proficient in that
language. Besides, the manner in which the entrance examination would be held
does not require long answers to be written so that proficiency in English
should become an absolute necessity so far as that examination itself is
concerned. [753E-F]
1.5
By the time the Scheme is put into operation in 1988-89 session, all the States
would have four years of notice of the judgment proposing the switch-over to
the Scheme. Four years' period is certainly sufficient notice and no one can
have any occasion to feel aggrieved that there is any hustling up in the
implementation of the Scheme. [752F]
1.6
In view of the direction that the Scheme should be operative from the 1988-89
academic session, the order of injunction regarding the 15% seats is recalled.
The respective institutions are now free to fill up these vacancies in
accordance with their own procedure of admission. [755F]
ORIGINAL
JURISDICTION:
Civil Misc. Petition No. 7667 of 1987.
IN
Writ Petitions Nos. 348-352 of 1985. (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of
India). Madan Lokur for the Petitioners.
G.
Viswanatha Iyer and P.K. Pillai for the State of Kerala. J.R. Das and D.K.
Sinha for the State of West Bengal. A.K. Ganguli and Mariarputham for the State
of Himachal Pradesh. D.N. Dwivedi, R.P. Srivastava, Mrs. Halida Khatun and Ms.
A. Subhashini for the Union of India.
747
P.H. Parekh, E.K. Jose, Mrs. S. Dikshit, A.V. Rangam R. Rana, M. Veerappa, B.R.
Agarwal, B.D. Sharma, R.C. Verma, C.V. Subba Rao, D.K. Sinha, J.R. Dass, M.E.
Sardhana, S.K. Nandy, A.S. Bhasme, A.M. Khanwilkar, P.P. Singh, R.K. Mehta,
T.V.S.N. Chari, A.K. Sanghi, M.N. Shroff, D. Goburdhan, Suryakant, H.K. Puri,
M.K.D. Namboodiry, B.P. Singh, K. Ramkumar, E.M.S. Anam, T,V. Ratnam, L.R.
Singh, D.R. Agar- wal, R.S. Sodhi, Mrs. Sushma Suri, A. Subba Rao, Prabir
Choudhary, D.N. Mukharjee, S.K. Mehta, M.K. Garg, P. Par- meshwarn, M.
Karanjawala, L.K. Pandey, K. Rajindera Choud- hary, P.C. Kapur, Pramod Swarup,
T. Sridharan, Rajesh, N.M. Ghatate, Ravi P. Wadhvani, S.K. Gambhir ,and D.N.
Mishra for the Interveners.
The
following Order of the Court was delivered by ORDER on June 22, 1984, a three-Judge
Bench to which one of us was. a party delivered the judgment in a group of writ
petitions and while disapproving of the prevailing wholesale reservation on
different scores in regard to admission of students into medical courses of
study such as M.B.B.S. and Post Graduate specialties, proceeded. to observe
that "the very mandate of the equality clause viewed in the perspective of
social justice would justify some extent of reservation based upon residence
requirement within the State or on institutional preferences for students
passing the qualifying examination." One of the considerations--perhaps
the primary one-in formulating the scheme for creating a nation- al forum for
choice of candidates for the reserved seats-was the growth of a broad-based national
approach as against the prevailing State-based reservationist policy.
The
Judgment was delivered during the long vacation of the court perhaps with the
fond hope that the scheme evolved by this Court could be implemented in the
educational session to follow. This Court had not then assessed what magnitude
the task of implementation of the scheme would involve.
When
the scheme did not become operative even in the following year (1985-86), this
Court directed the Government of India to convene a meeting in which Medical
faculties of universities, Health Secretaries of State Governments,
representatives of the Medical Council of India, the Dental Council of India,
National Board of Examinations, National Academy of Medical Sciences, the
Central 748 Board of Secondary Education and representatives of the Ministries
of Education and Law were to participate with a view to scrutinising and giving
shape to the scheme prepared by the Medical Council of India under orders of
this Court and finalise every detail regarding the holding of the All India
Entrance Examination for the MBBS/BDS and Post Graduate Courses. This meeting
was held on September 16, 1985, and after deliberations a shape was given.
The
resultant scheme and certain objections came to be dealt by this Court in its
order dated July 21, 1986. By this order the reservation of 30% indicated in
the main judgment was reduced to 15% of the total seats for MBBS course in each
medical college or institution without taking into account any reservations validly
made and this Court observed:- "This new formula is in our opinion fair
and just and brings about real equality of opportunity in admissions to the
MBBS/BDS course without placing the students in one State in an advantageous or
disadvantageous position as compared to the students in another State."
This Court dealt at length with the objections to the syllabus and ultimately
said:- "We approve of the syllabus since it has been accepted by the
Medical Council of India, the Government of India and all the State Governments
except the State of Maharashtra which also did not make any submissions to the
Court at the hearing of this case." This Court further said :- "Since
as a result of the direction given by us on 2nd May, 1986, our judgment dated
22nd June, 1984, is going to be operative only with effect from the academic
year commencing in 1987 and the first All India Entrance Examination for
admission to the MBBS/BDS course would be held only in June, 1987, we would
request the Education Department of each State as also the Board of Secondary
and/or Higher Secondary Education in each State to take note of this syllabus
which we have approved for the All India Entrance Examination and to suitably
amend its syllabus or course for the 12th year (perhaps class) 749 so as to
bring it in line with the syllabus approved by us so that the students passing
the qualifying examination of the 12th class may be properly equipped to face
the All India Entrance Examination. It would be desirable if a common syllabus
is adopted at +2 level throughout the country so that there may be uniformity
in the educational pattern and the students in various States may be able to
appear in the All India Entrance Examination on a footing of equality without
any undue advantage to one as against the other." By the same order, the
Court held that the Central Board of Secondary Education would be the agency to
conduct the All India Entrance Examination for admission to the MBBS course. It
was further clarified that the scheme in the main judgment as modified later is
meant to apply to medical colleges or institutions maintained or run by the
Union of India, any State Government or Municipal or Local Authority.
That
order also directed that :- "All India Entrance Examination for MBBS/BDS course
shall be held once in a year which may commence at any time between 15th July
and 1st August each year. The dates indicated in paragraph 14 of the Scheme of
All India En- trance Examination for MBBS/BDS course are quite in order but we
would add one more date, namely, that the result of the All India Entrance
Examination shall be declared some- time between the 15th and the 20th June. A
list of successful candidates shall be pre- pared in order of merit and it
shall comprise the names of as many students as the number of vacant seats
available for admission plus 10% more and there shall also be a waiting list as
indicated in paragraph 8 of the scheme. There shall also be an interval of time
of at least three weeks between the date of publication of the list and the
date of admission to the medical colleges or institutions covered by the
scheme." There is an apparent mistake in the working schedule in this part
of that order. If the examination is to be held between July 15 and August 1,
the result cannot be declared between the 15th and the 20th of June. We clarify
this apparent error by directing that the examination shall be held between
16th May and 31st May and the results shall be notified between 15th and 20th
June. The list of the candidates as directed in that order will be prepared
within one week from the publication of the results and three weeks' time shall
be allowed to 750 intervene before actual admission starts. By the end of
August such process having been completed, actual teaching should start from
the beginning of September. In all medical colleges/institutions to which the
scheme applies, teaching for MBBS/BDS course should start on the first working
day of September and even those institutions which are outside the scheme might
as well commence their academic sessions from September so that throughout the
country there would be uniformity in that regard. In that order, this Court
further held:- "The schemes of examination for admission to MBBS/BDS
course .......... are therefore approved by us, subject to the various
modifications discussed and formulated in this judgment. We would direct the
Government of India to revise these schemes in accordance with the
modifications directed in this judgment and to submit such revised schemes to
this Court within two weeks from today. The Government of India will supply
copies of the revised schemes to the learned advocates appearing on behalf of
the State Governments, the Medical Council of India and the Bombay University
so that if the revised schemes are not in accordance with the directions given
by us in this judgment in any respect, they may be able to point out such
discrepancies in the revised schemes." The Writ Petitions were directed to
be placed for hearing on 4th of August, 1986, for confirmation of the revised
schemes prepared by the Government of India in accordance with the directions
given in that judgment. The revised schemes were not placed for finalisation
before the Court in the manner directed but ultimately the concerned authorities
proceeded with the making of arrangements for holding of the All India Entrance
Examination. At that stage, several applications were moved objecting to the
holding of the examination in the absence of a final clearance from this Court.
In that order of 21st July, 1986, this Court had directed:- "We would like
to make it clear that students shall be entitled to appear at the All India
Entrance Examination even if the result of the qualifying examination has not
yet been declared, provided they have appeared at the qualifying examination
but they cannot be admitted to the MBBS/ BDS course unless they have passed the
qualifying examination." 751 In the advertisement which was given calling
for applications from candidates seeking admission to the entrance examination,
eligibility was limited to successful candidates in the qualifying examination
and the above direction of this Court was not reflected there. On 30th of
April, 1987, this Court made the following order:- "We understand that
notice of the Scheme has been served on all the States. Some of the States have
filed their objections to the proposed Scheme. The remaining States may file
their objections by June 15, 1987 latest.
The
Registry of this Court will serve a copy of this Order on the Chief Secretary
of each State to enable those States who have not filed objections to do so by
the aforesaid date. Those States who do not have a copy of the Scheme with them
will apply to the Regis- try within time for such copy. It is distinctly
understood that no further time will be allowed to any State for filing
objections.
The
Union of India will file its response to those objections by July 10, 1987. The
matter shall be listed on July 14, 1987 for final disposal. Meanwhile, the
examination scheduled for May 3, 1987 shall stand postponed. The postponement
of the examination shall be notified publicly in all prominent newspapers, the
All India Radio and Doordarshan immediately.
We
also restrain the States and their respective medical Colleges from filling up
15% of the seats in the First Year M.B.B.S. Course ............... until
further orders." In compliance with the said direction, the objections
filed by the various States have been placed before us which are being disposed
of by this order. The States which have filed' their objections are the
following:- (1) Assam (2) Goa (3) Gujarat (4) Haryana (5) Karnataka (6) Kerala
752 (7) Orissa (8) Punjab (9) Rajasthan (10) Tamil Nadu (11) Uttar Pradesh (12)
West Bengal.
Apart
from these States, the Bombay Municipal Corporation has sent some objections to
the scheme.
Most
of the States had a common objection, namely, some more time is needed to conveniently
adapt to the switch-over as contemplated by the scheme and, therefore,
implementation of the Scheme. under the main judgment should be deferred at
least for two more years. We have already pointed out that the Scheme was
intended to be enforced in 1985-86 academic session and when it was deferred to
the next year, the Court was hopeful that it could be introduced in the
academic session of 1986-87. We have indicated at length by quoting from the
order of July 21, 1986, how under adverse circum- stances it was not possible
to enforce it in that academic session but the Court felt assured that the
Scheme would be operative in the current academic session, namely, of 1987-
88.
Even in April, 1987 when injunction against filling the 15% of the seats was
directed, this Court seems to have still been hopeful of the working out the
Scheme in this session. For reasons which we shall indicate presently, it is
not possible to enforce the Scheme in the current academic session of 1987-88.
By the time the Scheme is put into operation in 1988-89 Session, all States
would have four years of notice of this judgment proposing the switchover to
the Scheme. Four years' period is certainly sufficient notice and no one can
have any occasion to feel aggrieved that there is any hustling up in the
implementation of the Scheme. We are, therefore, not impressed at all by the
stand taken in the objections that more time necessary for implementing the
Scheme and, therefore, its implementation should be deferred until 1990.
The
next objection which most of the States have voiced is that the
syllabus--curriculum of study--in some of these States being different from the
syllabus formulated under the orders of this Court, the students would be
handicapped when taking the entrance examination. Here again we see no force. We
have extracted at considerable length from a part of the order of July 21,
1986, where this aspect was 753 in the mind of the Court and as the Scheme
syllabus was already prepared, the Court indicated that the courses of study at
least for the 12th Class should be so changed as to fit into the syllabus. The
State Governments should have taken immediate steps for that purpose. Now that
we are deferring the implementation of the scheme till the next session, a gap
of almost two years would have intervened between the earlier order of the
Court and the time when the Scheme would be implemented. Those States who have
not taken steps to bring their syllabi in line with the Scheme syllabus must be
blamed for indifference but there is still time to remedy the situation. Such
of the students who propose to sit at the entrance examination must from now on
undertake an extended study of the subjects covered by the syllabus in case
some portions from the approved scheme syllabus are not covered by their own.
We do not consider this objection as a valid one for deferring the
implementation of the Scheme any further beyond the coming session.
On
behalf of some of the States like Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, it was pointed out
that the medium of study in the qualifying course being the State language, it
would be difficult for the students to take the All India Entrance Examination
in English. This is not the first time this objection has been raised. Even on
an earlier occasion, it was claimed that the entrance examination should be
held by adopting regional or State languages. On this count, the Court had
indicated the reasons and had refused to accept that request. We do not think
there is any justification to take a different view of the situation. We would
reiterate that the medium of study of the MBBS Course being in English, those
students who propose to study the MBBS have got to be reasonably proficient in
that language. Besides, the manner in which the entrance' examination would be
held, does not require long answers to be written so that proficiency in
English should become an absolute necessity so far as that examination itself
is concerned. In these circum- stances we do not see any real force in the
objection relating to the language of the examination.
On
behalf of the State of Assam, a plea was raised that the enforcement of the
Scheme should be deferred for a period of five years. By way of justification
for such a request, it was maintained that the State has suffered badly on
account of the continuous agitation for about three to four years and during
this period, the educational institutions were mostly closed and the State is
still in a process of recovery. It is a fact that the State passed through a
period of agitation cloud but we do not think there would be any justification
to keep the 754 State out from the national stream. It is quite possible that
for the first year or two, some inconvenience may be experienced but we are
sure, the young students from Assam would maintain high spirits and would match
up to the national standards for competition in respect of the 15% seats. We
are of the view that it would be in the interest of the State of Assam to
quickly join the national stream.
A
similar request has been made on behalf of the State of Punjab though on
different grounds. It is stated that the prevailing situation of law and order
in Punjab being what it is, it may be difficult for students from outside
Punjab to be in Punjab for pursuing their courses of studies in the MBBS and
equally un-favorably would be the position for youngsters from Punjab to go out
to other institutions located in different parts of the country. We cannot shut
our eyes to the realities of the situation but there is still almost a year for
the Scheme to be implemented and we hope the present situation would not
continue so long. In case the present situation continues, it may be open to
the State of Punjab to apply for directions of this Court when the Scheme is
about to be implemented. For the present we reject the request of the Punjab
State'.
Ours
is a large country and the level of education is not uniform throughout.
Undoubtedly some States are more advanced than others in the field of
education. The idea underlying the Scheme is to bring about a national cohesion
and understanding and the Scheme has to be looked at from that stand point. In
introducing a Scheme of this type which requires a switch-over from the
prevailing pattern, there is bound to be some inconvenience. Whether it is
introduced now or two years after, would indeed bring about a feeling of
anxiety and uncertainty till one gets used to it. This is a part of human
nature. We have found a general welcome to the Scheme but an objection to its
implementation. The Scheme is intended to be implemented and if the Scheme is
welcome, its implementation should also be received well. There could,
therefore, be no room for objection at the thrash-hold.
Now
that the objections are not entertained and the Scheme is finalised-and the
syllabus was earlier approved---all formalities for the holding of the
examination are complete.
The
next question is as to when should the examination be held. Learned counsel for
the Union of India as also the Indian Medical Council suggested that it could
be done in October this year so that the candidates selected at the entrance
examination could join the 1987-88 755 Session from November. In most of the
colleges, admission in respect of 85% seats has been completed and actual
teaching has either begun or is about to begin. By November a substantial part
of the course would have been read. To meet the situation, learned counsel for
the Union of India suggested that we should direct the colleges and
institutions to have a supplementary course for the students admitted against.
the 15% vacancies. In the absence of consent from the institutions, it would be
difficult to work out that. As it is, there exists a lot of confusion in the
field and we do not propose to add to it by giving a direction of the type
proposed. On the other hand it would be appropriate to bring the Scheme into
operation from the coming year so that all the preliminaries can be properly
conducted and in regular course the students can seek admission to the 1988- 89
Session. We accordingly direct the authorities to hold the examination in the
manner directed, in June, 1988. The Union of India, the Medical Council, the
Dental Council, the several States, Universities and Medical Colleges or
institutions who are covered by the Scheme are directed to comply with these
orders in time so as to give full effect to what has been said here.
We
have no intention to accept any application for further modification or
alteration of our orders except in regard to the State of Punjab to the extent
we have indicated in this order. We had put the parties appearing before us to
notice of our intention and we reiterate it in our present order that no such
application shall be entertained.
We
hope and trust that all concerned would cooperate in giving an easy workable
switch-over to the Scheme to be implemented in the 1988-89 academic session so
far as the MBBS/BDS course is concerned. In view of our directing the Scheme to
be operative from the 1988-89 academic sessions, the order of injunction passed
on 20th of April, 1987, regarding the 15% seats is recalled. The respective
institutions are now free to fill up these vacancies in accordance with their
own procedure of admission.
A
copy of this order shall be communicated forthwith by the Registry to the Chief
Secretary of every State and or Union Territory as the case may be.
N.P.V.
Back