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PETITIONER: DR. DINESH KUMAR & ORS.

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: MOTILAL NEHRU MEDICAL COLLEGE,ALLAHABAD & ORS.

DATE OF JUDGMENT03/08/1987

BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH BENCH: 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 reser- vation of seats for admission to different courses of  study such as MBBS/BDS and Post Graduate Specialities and  holding of an All India Entrance Examination therefor, 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  objec- tions  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  de- ferred  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  confirma- tion/finalisation  in the manner indicated by the Court  and when the concerned authorities proceeded with making  neces- sary arrangements for holding the All India Entrance  Exami- nation,  several  applications were moved objecting  to  the holding  of the examination, in the absence of final  clear- ance 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

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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  pat- tern, 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 objec- tion at the threshhold. [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 session. 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 pur- 746 pose.  Now  that implementation of the Scheme is  being  de- ferred  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  profi- ciency 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  respec-

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tive institutions are now free to fill up these vacancies in accordance with their own procedure of admission. [755F]

JUDGMENT: 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  peti- tions  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 specialities, proceeded. to observe that  "the very  mandate of the equality clause viewed in the  perspec- tive of social justice would justify some extent of reserva- tion based upon residence requirement within the State or on institutional preferences for students passing the  qualify- ing  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  ses- sion to follow. This Court had not then assessed what magni- tude 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

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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  Gradu- ate  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 anoth-               er 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  Maha-               rashtra  which also did not make  any  submis-               sions  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  opera-               tive  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  Depart-               ment  of each State as also the Board of  Sec-               ondary  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

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             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  institu-               tions 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  be- tween  16th May and 31st May and the results shall be  noti- fied 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  Govern-               ment  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  direc-               tions  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  hear- ing 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

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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  applica- tions  from  candidates seeking admission  to  the  entrance examination,  eligibility was limited to  successful  candi- dates 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 distinct-               ly  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 immediate-               ly.                        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  fur-               ther      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

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(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 academ- ic  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  imple- menting 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  sylla- bus 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

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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  Eng- lish, 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  profi- ciency 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 relat- ing 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  institu- tions 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 agitational 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  na- tional  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 unfavourably 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 threash-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  examina- tion are complete.     The  next question is as to when should the  examination

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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  sub- stantial  part of the course would have been read.  To  meet the  situation, learned counsel for the Union of India  sug- gested  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  insti- tutions 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 indicat- ed 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  session, the  order  of  injunction passed on 20th  of  April,  1987, regarding the 15% seats is recalled. The respective institu- tions 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. 756