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PETITIONER: AMANJIT SINGH GILL ETC.

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: DIRECTOR GENERAL OF HEALTH SERVICES ETC.

DATE OF JUDGMENT21/11/1988

BENCH: DUTT, M.M. (J) BENCH: DUTT, M.M. (J) NATRAJAN, S. (J)

CITATION:  1989 AIR  386            1988 SCR  Supl. (3) 905  1989 SCC  (1) 231        JT 1988 (4)   469  1988 SCALE  (2)1373  CITATOR INFO :  F          1989 SC1513  (7)

ACT:     Professional Colleges--Admission to.

HEADNOTE:     Medical   Colleges--Admission  to--All  India   Entrance Examination for MBBS/BDS course Vacant seats as a result  of drop out in number of candidates allocated seats--Guidelines issued by Court for allocation of vacant seats.     The petitioners in the writ petitions had been  allotted seats   in  MBBS/BDS  courses  in   various   Medical/Dental Colleges.  They  sought  change, and  wanted  admissions  in colleges which were near their home- towns.     The  Union  of India, respondent in the  writ  petitions also filed Civil Miscellaneous Petitions seeking  directions of  the Court in the matter of the allocation of 532  vacant seats  in  the  medical colleges  in  the  MBBS/BDS  courses pursuant to the result of the All India Entrance Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education,   New Delhi.     Disposing of the Writ and Civil Miscellaneous  petitions the Court laid down guidelines to be followed:     HELD:  1. The candidates, who have been allocated  seats to  the  Dhanbad Medical College which is not  a  recognised College,  by  the Medical Council of India should  first  be reallocated  to  the  recognised  medical  colleges   having vacancies  keeping in view the minimum distance  from  their home-towns. [907H;908A]     2. Those candidates who have exercised their choice  for MBBS   course  only  or  to MBBS  course  by  way  of  first preference and to BDS course by way of second preference and admitted to BDS Course for want of seats in the MBBS  Course shall,  if they or any of them desire to be admitted in  the MBBS Course, be absorbed against the available vacant  seats in order of merit. [908B-C]                                                   PG NO 905                                                   PG NO 906     3.  The vacant MBBS or BDS seats,  thereafter  available should  be offered to the candidates on the waiting list  in order of merits. [908C]

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   4.  The candidates will be given maximum time of  twenty days  to join the medical colleges, failing with  the  seats will be declared vacant. [908F]     5.  The allocation of MBBs seats already made shall  not be disturbed. [908F]     6.  The  Director  General  of  Health  Services,  shall consider  the question of allotment to candidates, who  have been already admitted to MBBS or BDS Course, nearer to their home-town in order of merit. [908G]     [The  Director General of Health Services to  deal  with the cases of the petitioners in the different writ petitions and  also  the cases of the other candidates  in  accordance with  the above guidelines and dispose of the same within  a period of three weaks.] [910B]

JUDGMENT:     ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No. 961  of 1988 Etc.     (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India).     Kuldip Singh, Additional Solicitor General, Rajindra Lal Chopra,  A.S.  Pundir, Bharat Sangal, Dr.  (Mrs.)  Roxna  S. Swamy, M.C. Dhingra, Prem Malhotra and Ms. A. Subhashini for the Petitioners.     Madan  Lokur,  Manik Karanjawala, C.M. Nayyar  and  S.K. Mehta for the Respondents.     The Judgment of the Court was delivered by     DUTT,  J. These writ petitions relate to the  allocation of seats in medical colleges in the MBBS/BDS Course pursuant to  the  result  of  the  All  India  Entrance   Examination conducted  by the Central Board of Secondary Education,  New Delhi,  in  respect of 15 per cent of the  total  number  of MBBS/BDS seats in medical colleges of different States.     Before  dealing with the individual writ  petitions,  we may refer to an application made by the Union of India being                                                   PG NO 907 C.M.P. No. 29264 of 1988 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 348-52 of  1985  praying for suitable directions in the  matter  of allocation  of  vacant  seats. It has been  stated  in  this application  that  the  results of the  All  India  Entrance Examination  conducted  by the Central  Board  of  Secondary Education for admission in the MBBS/BDS Course were declared on July 15, 1988. A merit list of 1,600 candidates  together with  a  waiting list of 1,000 candidates was  sent  to  the Director General of Health Services by the Central Board  of Secondary Education for making allocations of candidates  to various  medical colleges for admission to MBBS/BDS  Course, as the case may be. The Director General of Health  Services allocated 1,428 candidates to MBBS Course and 111 candidates to  BDS  Course  in  the  various  medical/dental  colleges. Further,  it  is  stated that on the  basis  of  information received  in  the office of the Director General  of  Health Services,  532  candidates  have not  joined  in  all  these courses and, accordingly, the said 532 seats have been lying vacant.     In  order  to  decide the criteria  to  be  adopted  for allocation  of vacant seats as a result of drop-outs in  the number  of candidates who had been allocated MBBS/BDS  seats in various medical/dental colleges, a meeting was held under the  chairmanship of the Secretary, Ministry of  Health  and Family Affair. In this meeting, the Chairman of the  Central Board of Secondary Education, Secretary, Medical Council  of India,  and  representatives  of the  Ministry  of  Law  and Justice  participated, besides others from the  Ministry  of

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Health  and  Family Affair and the  Directorate  General  of Health Services. The Committee took a decision regarding the allocation  of seats in the MBBS/BDS Course.  The  Committee has  also made certain suggestions regarding the  guidelines to  be  followed for the purpose of filling  up  the  vacant seats in the MBBS/BDS Course.     Mr. Kuldip Singh, learned Additional Solicitor  General, submits that this Court may approve of the suggestions  made by  the  said Committee or lay down the guidelines  for  the purpose  of filling up the vacant seats. After  hearing  the learned  Counsel of the petitioners in these writ  petitions and  after considering the suggestions of the committee  and the  submissions  made by the learned  Additional  Solicitor General,  we direct that the following guidelines should  be followed for the purpose of filling up the said 532 seats in the MBBS/BDS Course.     1. The candidates, who have been allocated seats to  the Dhanbad Medical College which is not a recognised College by                                                   PG NO 908 the  Medical  Council of India after 1982, should  first  be reallocated   to  the  recognised  medical  colleges  having vacancies keeping in view the aspect of the minimum distance from their home-towns.     2. Those candidates who have exercised their choice  for MBBS  Course  only  or  to  MBBS  Course  by  way  of  first preference and to BDS Course by way of second preference and admitted to BDS Course for want of seats in the MBBS  Course shall,  if they or any of them desire to be admitted in  the MBBS Course, be absorbed against the available vacant  seats in order of merit. The change from BDS Course to MBBS Course will, however, be at their own cost and responsibility.     3.  The vacant MBBS or BDS seats, thereafter  available, should  be offered to the candidates on the waiting list  in order  of merit. Allocation may be made to medical  colleges on  the  basis  of  the five  preference  indicated  by  the candidates in the application forms. Any allocation of  seat made  to a candidate in the waiting list either in the  MBBS or BDS Course shall be final and no request for change  from one course to the other will be entertained. In the case  of those  candidates  in  the  waiting  list,  who  cannot   be allocated   to  medical  colleges  on  the  basis  of   five preferences  given  by them in the  application  forms,  the Director  General  of  Health Services  will  allocate  them colleges  as near to their places of residence  as  possible subject to availability of seats in those nearby colleges.     4.  The candidates will be given maximum time of  twenty days to join the medical colleges allotted to them,  failing which the seats will be declared vacant.     5.  The allocation of MBBS seats already made shall  not be disturbed.     6.  The  Director  General  of  Health  Services   shall consider  the question of allotment of medical  colleges  to candidates,  who have been already admitted to MBBS  or  BDS Course, nearer to their home-towns in order of merit.     7. Absorption in the said 532 vacant seats of candidates who  have  already  been  admitted in  the  BDS  Course  and reallotment  of medical colleges to candidates also  already admitted  in  the MBBS or BDS Course, as the  case  may  be,                                                   PG NO 909 home-towns,  and the reallocation to the recognised  medical colleges of candidates who have been already allocated seats to  the  Dhanbad  Medical College, shall be  made  within  a period of three weeks from today.     The  petitioner  Amanjit  Singh Gill  in  Writ  Petition (Civil) No. 961 of 1988 is a resident of Punjab. He has been

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admitted  in  the  MBBS Course in  the  Tamil  Nadu  Medical College.  He  prays that the respondent may be  directed  to allot  a seat in Patiala Medical College, Punjab,  which  is near to his residence.     The  petitioner Shalu Sood in Writ Petition (Civil)  No. 1110  of 1988 has been allotted a seat in the BDS Course  in S.C.B.  Medical College, Cuttack, and she has  since  joined the  said College. According to her two seats in BDS  Course are  lying  vacant in Delhi. No particulars  have,  however, been  given by her as to in which medical college in  Delhi, the two seats are lying vacant. Be that as it may, she prays for  the allotment of one of such seats to her in  order  of merit.     In   Writ  Petition  (Civil)  No.  1071  of  1988,   the petitioner  Vimal  Mehta, who is a  resident  of  Faridabad, Haryana,  has  been allotted a seat in the  MBBS  Course  in Darbhanga Medical College, Bihar, which is far off from  the place  of  residence  of the petitioner. On  behalf  of  the petitioner  preference  has been given first  to  a  medical college  in Delhi and second to a medical college in  Rohtak in the State of Haryana.     The  grievance  of the petitioner Mahesh  Dutt  in  Writ Petition  (Civil) No. 1056 of 1988 is that although 7  seats in  the  MBBS Course have been lying vacant in  the  Medical College  Rohtak  in  respect  of which  he  gave  his  first preference,  he  has  been allotted a seat  in  the  Medical College  Dhanbad.  The  home-town of the  petitioner  is  in Haryana and it is prayed by him that he should be allotted a seat  in the MBBS Course in the Medical College Rohtak.  The petitioner has, however, already joined the Medical  College Dhanbad.     The case of Kumari Shilpa Mehra, the petitioner in  Writ Petition  (Civil)  No.  936 of 1988, is that  she  has  been allotted  a seat in the BDS Course at the Government  Dental College,  Bombay, although candidates who have secured  less marks  than  her  have been admitted  in  MBBS  Course.  The petitioner  has  already joined the BDS Course in  the  said Government Dental College, Bombay. It is prayed by her  that she may be allotted a seat in the MBBS Course in any medical college in Bombay in order of merit.                                                   PG NO 910     The guidelines for filling up the said 532 seats in  the MBBS/BDS  Course cover the cases of the petitioners  in  the different writ petitions mentioned above. Instead of  giving separate directions in each of the writ petitions, we direct the Director General of Health Services to deal with all the above  cases  and  also the cases  of  other  candidates  in accordance  with the above guidelines laid down by  us.  All the  cases shall be disposed of by the Director  General  of Health  Services within a period of three weeks from  today. The Director General, after disposal of the  representations of  the  writ  petitioners and others  with  regard  to  the filling  up  of the said 532 vacant seats  in  the  MBBS/BDS Course, shall submit a report to this Court within six weeks from today.     The  writ  petitions and C.M.P. No. 29264  of  1988  are disposed of as above. There will, however, be no order as to costs in any of them. N.V.K.                              Petitions disposed of