Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
HANDIBANDHU RAUTHARAO AND ORS ETC. ETC.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF ORISSA AND ORS. ETC. ETC.
DATE OF JUDGMENT01/07/1985
BENCH:
CHANDRACHUD, Y.V. ((CJ)
BENCH:
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
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that course and they also objected to the requirement
envisaged by the new scheme.
Disposing of the Writ Petitions, the Court,
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^
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
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JUDGMENT:
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
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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
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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
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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.
818