Madras High Court
Sri Muthukumaran Medical College ... vs The Registrar on 22 June, 2022
W.A.No.604 of 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 22.06.2022
CORAM :
THE HON'BLE MR.MUNISHWAR NATH BHANDARI, CHIEF JUSTICE
AND
THE HON'BLE MRS.JUSTICE N.MALA
W.A.Nos.604 of 2021
Sri Muthukumaran Medical College Hospital
and Research Institute,
Chikkarayapuram, Near Mangadu,
Chennai-600 069,
rep. by Managing Trustee, Gomathi Ammal .. Appellant
Vs
1.The Registrar,
The Tamil Nadu Dr.MGR Medical University,
No.169, Anna Salai, Guindy,
Chennai - 600 032.
2.The Secretary,
Selection Committee,
Directorate of Medical Education,
Chennai. .. Respondents
Prayer: Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the
order dated 11.2.2021 passed in W.P.No.3234 of 2021.
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For the Appellant : Mr.Vishnu Venkatesh
For the Respondents : Mr.P.Muthukumar
State Government Pleader
assisted by
Mr.K.M.D.Muhilan
Government Advocate
for 1st respondent
: Mr.J.Ravindran
Addl. Advocate General
[Coordination]
assisted by Ms.M.Sneha
Standing Counsel
for respondent No.2
JUDGMENT
(Delivered by the Hon'ble Chief Justice)
The writ appeal is directed against the judgment dated
11.2.2021 passed in W.P.No.3234 of 2021 by which the writ petition
filed by the appellant was dismissed.
2. The writ petition was filed to seek a direction on the
respondents to issue hall tickets for the nine students admitted by
the appellant medical college to MBBS course. The examinations
were scheduled to be held from 15.2.2021. The learned Single
Judge refused to grant relief to the appellant medical college.
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3. If this court goes by the relief prayed in the writ petition, it
would be an infructuous litigation because permission to write the
examinations scheduled from 15.2.2021 cannot be given now.
Tthe above observation has been made because the relief prayed by
the medical college cannot be granted for the aforesaid reason.
4. It is a case where for the academic year 2019-2020 of
MBBS Course, the appellant medical college was not figured in the
list of the medical colleges to whom the students were to be allotted
by the Selection Committee. The appellant college thus filed a writ
petition, being W.P.No.23726 of 2019, and in pursuance of the
order dated 19.8.2019, the name of the appellant college was
included in the list and, accordingly, counselling was conducted by
the Selection Committee on 27.8.2019 and recommended the
names of 150 students. According to the appellant medical college,
only 141 students out of 150 took admission till the last date given
by the Selection Committee, i.e., till 5 pm on 29.8.2019. Nine
students did not appear for admission and, accordingly, the
appellant medical college notified the vacancies on their website
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inviting eligible candidates for admission. The candidates were
directed to report to the appellant medical college by 30.8.2019, as
the last date to complete the process was 31.8.2019. The nine
vacancies were accordingly filled from and amongst the meritorious
candidates reported to the appellant medical college on 30.8.2019.
In view of the above, the appellant medical college has shown its
bona fide in filling up the nine vacant seats and, therefore, prayed
for issuance of hall tickets to the nine students to write the
examinations scheduled from 15.2.2021.
5. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that without
taking note of the bona fide of the appellant medical college, the
learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition and, therefore, this
appeal has been preferred. It is stated that when the nine students
did not report till 5 pm on 29.8.2019 and the last date to complete
the process of admission was 31.8.2019, the appellant was having
only two intervening days and, thus, they immediately called for
applications from eligible candidates by hosting it on their website.
Pursuant to the same, many students reported for admission, but
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the appellant medical college gave admission to meritorious
candidates only. It is not that the appellant medical college was
having sufficient time to report the vacant seats to the Selection
Committee so as to get a list of students in the ratio of 1:10 to give
admission to them by 31.8.2019. In view of the time constraint, the
judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Dar-Us-Slam
Educational Trust & Ors vs. Medical Council of India & Ors.
(W.P. (Civil) No.267 of 2017 - Dated 09.05.2017) could not be
applied. Therefore, the prayer is to set aside the judgment of the
learned Single Judge and to permit the nine students to complete
their studies. They have already suffered in their studies because
despite being students of the academic year 2019-2020, they could
not write a single examination of MBBS course till date, though a
period of one year and ten months has already lapsed, out of the
total course period of five years.
6. The writ appeal has been seriously contested by learned
Additional Advocate General who submitted that the learned Single
Judge has rightly dismissed the writ petition, as admission was
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given by the appellant medical college to nine students flouting the
judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Dar-Us-Slam
Educational Trust & Ors, supra. It was not that the appellant
medical college was admitting students for the first time, rather it
was imparting medical education till 2014, when it was de-
recognized. After lapse of few years, the appellant medical college
was again granted recognition by the Medical Council of India.
Despite knowing that vacant seats have to be notified to the
Selection Committee so as to get the names of the meritorious
candidates in the ratio of 1:10, they had hosted the vacancies on
their website and made admissions on their own sacrificing the
merit, which would be apparently clear from the fact that the
candidate who scored 326 marks was the last candidate
recommended by the Selection Committee for admission, whereas
the last student who was given admission by the appellant college
secured only 112 marks.
7. Learned Additional Advocate General further submits that
the medical course is not to be considered at par with any other
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course, rather it is such a course where a qualified person would
serve the public, where merit cannot be compromised, because in
that case, he would be playing with the life of a patient. It is,
therefore, that the Apex Court has issued directions from time to
time to adhere to the merit, after taking note of the fact that even
after counselling and recommendation of the names of meritorious
candidates, medical colleges somehow show absence of the students
and fill few seats on their own by sacrificing the merit. It is,
therefore, that in the year 2017 the Apex Court in the case of Dar-
Us-Slam Educational Trust & Ors, supra, gave a specific direction
that the fees should be deposited with the Selection Committee
upon counselling and thereupon also if vacancy remains and it is
reported by the appellant college, it should call for merit list from
the Selection Committee, which would be furnished in the ratio of
1:10. The directions given by the Apex Court have been flouted and
now the prayer is to issue hall tickets to write examination, which
would not be permissible and, accordingly, the prayer is to dismiss
the writ petition. It is more so when the appellant had deliberately
denied admission to nine students recommended by the Selection
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Committee, out of whom two had to approach the court, wherein
directions have been given for their admission.
8. We have considered the rival submissions of the parties and
perused the records.
9. The facts in brief have already been referred in the
preceding paragraphs. Those facts would reveal that pursuant to
the counselling held on 27.8.2019, 150 students were recommended
for admission, out of which 141 took admission according to the
appellant and nine students did not report. It was subsequently
that two students filed writ petitions when they were denied
admission, despite their reporting to the appellant medical college
and today those appeals [W.A.Nos.3706 and 3709 of 2019] were
considered and dismissed holding the direction of the learned Single
Judge to admit the two students to be legal and justified.
10. The main question for our consideration is as to whether
the action of the appellant medical college to admit nine students
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without calling for the list of the meritorious candidates from the
Selection Committee was proper or not.
11. To answer the question, we would first refer to the
judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Dar-Us-Slam
Educational Trust & Ors, supra, and the relevant paragraphs of
the said judgment are quoted hereunder:
“23.6. The students who secure admission in MBBS
course pursuant to the common counselling
conducted by the State Government, at the time of
common counselling itself, should be made to deposit
with the Admission/Counselling Committee the
demand draft towards the fees payable to the
institution/colleges/university. The Admission/
Counselling Committee shall forthwith forward the
demand draft to the respective institution/
colleges/university. The necessity for including the
abovementioned requirement has arisen as it has
been time and again noticed that when students
report to the college after the counselling they are
refused admission by the colleges on some pretext or
the other and it is shown by the college as if the
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student never reported to the college for admission.
If the demand draft is deposited by the
Admission/Counselling Committee then there would
be no scope for colleges to refuse admission to any
student.
23.7. In order to ascertain the number of seats that
still remain vacant after the counselling the State
Government or the authority designated by the State
Government shall conduct manual counselling for
allotment of students. After the completion of
counselling, the State Government shall determine
the number of seats that are still vacant and
thereafter shall forward a list of students in order
of merit, equalling to ten times the number of
vacant seats to the medical college so that in
case of any stray vacancy arising in any college
the said seat may be filled up from the said
list.”
[emphasis supplied]
12. A Division Bench of this court had thereupon given a
detailed judgment in regard to the same issue referring to
Regulation 5(7) of the MCI Regulations, by judgment dated
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13.8.2020 in W.A.Nos.494 and 500 of 2020 [Sri Venkateshwaraa
Medical College Hospital and Research Centre v. Medical
Council of India and others], it was held as under:
"57. Coming to the legal issues, Regulation 5(7) of the
Medical Council of India Regulations in relation to
Under Graduate admissions categorically provides that
no admissions shall be made except in accordance
with the procedure prescribed and the directions of
the Apex Court. Regulation 5(7) is extracted herein
below:
“5. Procedure for selection to MBBS course shall
be as follows:-
(1) .....
(2) .....
(3) .....
(4) .....
(5) .....
(6) .....
(7) No authority/institution shall admit any
candidate to the MBBS course in contravention of
the criteria/procedure as laid down by these
Regulations and/or in violation of the judgments
passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in respect
of admissions. Any candidate admitted in
contravention/violation of aforesaid shall be
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discharged by the Council forthwith. The
authority/institution which grants admission to
any student in contravention/violation of the
Regulations and/or the judgments passed by the
Hon'ble Supreme Court, shall also be liable to face
such action as may be prescribed by the Council,
including surrender of seats equivalent to the
extent of such admission made from its
sanctioned intake capacity for the succeeding
academic year/years."
....
69. The stand taken by the Medical Council of India
has been explained and we find that the Medical
Council of India had promptly filed its counter-
affidavit disputing the claim of the College in
proceeding to fill up four unfilled seats without
following the procedure prescribed by law.
70. Further from the entire scheme of holding of the
NEET examinations and counselling, it is clear that
the examinations and admissions through
counselling are a continued process squarely within
the domain of the examination/counselling agencies
as prescribed under the Regulations. Whatever the
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activity pertaining to the preparation of the merit list
and its consequential execution is concerned, is
entirely within the control of such agencies and the
allotment of seats has to be carried out by the
Colleges accordingly. The contention raised on the
strength of paragraph (9) of the counter affidavit of
the Medical Council of India therefore has to be
understood in the light of above. The Medical Council
of India has nowhere stated that the College is free
to admit any student bereft of the procedure as
already prescribed. The Institutions have to abide by
the allocations made and they cannot be permitted to
create a situation so as to foster litigation as a
parallel method of seeking permission to admit
students beyond the directives of the Apex Court and
the Regulations.
71. Consequently, for all the reasons stated herein
above, we find no merit in these appeals insofar as
the appellant Institution is concerned. To that extent
the students also cannot succeed and we cannot
permit extension of any such benefit to the students
through a patently illegal process of admission
adopted by the Institution. We also do not find any
justification for the learned Single Judge at the
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interim stage to have granted an interim order nor
does the interim order passed in these proceedings in
anyway come to the aid of the students. If their
admissions are illegal, then any consequential
pursuit of study or attending the examinations are of
no avail.
72. However, if the students were put in jeopardy by
the College, then they can claim their entire refund
of fee from the College as well as compensation
awarded by the learned Single Judge. The College
was absolutely at fault in proceeding to undertake
the exercise of admission unilaterally, for which it
had no authority.
73. We may reiterate that the appellant Institution
was informed as early as on 4.4.2019 by the
Pondicherry University that only 146 students for the
first year MBBS course as per the list enclosed were
recognized and registered, whereas the other four
candidates having not been admitted through the
CENTAC will be considered only if the approval is
given by the CENTAC. Thus, the College knew that
these four students have not been admitted through
the procedure prescribed and therefore, the College is
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squarely to blame for kindling this fond hope or
expectation in the four students for admission in the
Institution. The damage caused therefore is on
account of the action of the appellant Institution,
hence, there is neither any equity nor any law so as
to justify any protection to the appellant Institution.
To the contrary, the appellant Institution must
compensate the students.
74. So far as the students are concerned, they have
been put to a loss on account of this exercise, but
the legal battle does not enure any benefit to them
as held by us herein above. They can approach the
Medical Council of India and the CENTAC authorities
for any such redressal, keeping in view the fact that
they have spent almost two years in pursuing a
course, which they otherwise were not entitled to be
admitted into through a faulty process adopted by
the College."
13. The judgment referred to above shows how the seats in
MBBS course are to be filled. If any seat remains vacant, the
medical college should have informed the Selection Committee to
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enable them to forward the list of students in the ratio of 1:10, but,
in the instant case, the medical college failed to inform the Selection
Committee about the vacant seats, rather Selection Committee had
directed the appellant medical college to admit two students who
would report on 30.8.2019, but they were refused admission. In
view of the above, the action of the appellant medical college to
admit nine students was grossly in violation of the judgment of the
Apex Court in the case of Dar-Us-Slam Educational Trust & Ors,
supra, and Regulation 5(7) of the MCI Regulations, referred by the
Division Bench in the case cited supra.
14. The appellant medical college to show its bonafide stated
that they filled the nine vacancies from and amongst the meritorious
candidates, which includes five seats of the government quota, for
which they have absolutely no authority to give admission. Thus,
even without having the authority to fill the government quota
seats, admissions were given in an illegal manner and, that too, not
from and amongst the meritorious candidates, but going much
below the merit, which would be reflected from the list of candidates
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admitted by them along with their merit position and marks
submitted by the appellant medical college on an affidavit filed in
the connected appeals, which is as under:
S.No. Rank AR No. Student Total Date of
Name Marks Joining
1 273941 57123 Pooja 290 30.08.2019
Chakravarthi.K
2 481342 55501 Gopala 195 30.08.2019
Krishnan.S
3 505123 52189 Murali 187 30.08.2019
Krishna.N
4 502943 50797 Aishwarya.R 187 30.08.2019
5 515757 52314 Mohamed 183 30.08.2019
Aashiq
Samsudin.U
6 515445 63236 Jai Adithya 183 30.08.2019
7 563619 60837 P.Soundarya 169 30.08.2019
8 728529 57402 G.R.Harsha 128 30.08.2019
9 816246 55113 Hariharan.V 112 30.08.2019
15. A perusal of the list given above shows that as against the
last candidate given admission by the Selection Committee who
secured 326 marks, a student who had secured 112 marks was
given admission by the appellant medical college. Thus, the bona
fide of the writ appellant in filling up the nine vacancies is not borne
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out even going by their own affidavit. It is more so when the
appellant college was having opportunity to furnish the list of all the
candidates who reported pursuant to the information given on their
website to indicate that from and amongst the the candidates who
reported for admission, nine meritorious candidates were given
admissions. The appellant failed to submit names of those
candidates and further the affidavit submitted in the connected
appeals pursuant to the direction of this court shows that fee from
students, not in thousands but in lakhs, was collected in cash, which
is not legally permissible as per the Reserve Bank of India
guidelines. The fee in cash could have been accepted even beyond
the date of admission and thereupon shown to have been received
on or before the date. It is also a matter of record that one student
was given admission by accepting fee on 31.8.2019, while the
Selection Committee had directed the appellant medical college to
admit the petitioners in connected writ appeals on 30.8.2019 itself,
yet, they were denied admission.
16. From the facts given above, the bona fide of the appellant
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medical college is not coming out and otherwise they cannot go
against the judgment of the Apex Court in Dar-Us-Slam
Educational Trust & Ors, supra, and judgment of the the Co-
ordinate Bench of this court in Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical
College Hospital and Research Centre, supra. Thus, we find no
reason to cause interference in the judgment of the learned Single
Judge. We cannot show sympathy to the medical college or on the
students, so as to sacrifice merit and arrive at a conclusion contrary
to the law laid down by the Apex Court, as medical profession is a
noble profession and any disregard to merit will have drastic
consequences on the patients at large. The appellant medical
college was having two intervening days to complete admissions. If
nine candidates did not report on 29.08.2019 till 5 pm, they should
have informed the same to the the Selection Committee on
29.08.2019 itself with a request to send the list of meritorious
candidates in 1:10 ratio as directed by the Apex Court in the case of
Dar-Us-Slam Educational Trust & Ors, supra, so as to make
admission strictly in order of merit. The list of candidates in 1:10
ratio against nine vacancies would not have gone below so as to
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admit a candidate having only 112 marks or even 290 marks,
because the last candidate recommended by the Selection
Committee had secured 326 marks. The admission could not have
been given in violation of the judgment of the Apex Court. If we
allow those admissions, then, it would be going against the direction
of the Apex Court in the case of Dar-Us-Slam Educational Trust
& Ors, supra.
For the foregoing reasons, the writ appeal is dismissed. There
will be no order as to costs. Consequently, C.M.P.Nos.2592 and
2593 of 2021 are closed.
(M.N.B., CJ.) (N.M., J.)
22.06.2022
Index : Yes/No
sasi
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To:
1.The Registrar,
The Tamil Nadu Dr.MGR Medical University,
No.169, Anna Salai, Guindy,
Chennai - 600 032.
2.The Secretary,
Selection Committee,
Directorate of Medical Education,
Chennai.
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THE HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE
AND
N.MALA, J.
(sasi)
W.A.Nos.604 of 2021
22.06.2022
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