Sikha Agarwal & Others vs Govt. Of India & Others
2022 Latest Caselaw 4857 Ori

                IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
                            W.P (C) No. 24381 of 2022

Sikha Agarwal & others                .....                                  Petitioners
                                                         Mr. S.P.Mishra, Sr. Advocate.
                                      Vs.
Govt. of India & others               .....                           Opposite Parties
                                                               Mr. A.K. Mishra, AGA
                                                               Mr. P.K. Parhi, DSGI
                                                              Mr. R.C. Mohanty, Adv.
              CORAM:
                  DR. JUSTICE B.R. SARANGI
                  MR. JUSTICE G. SATAPATHY

                                             ORDER

20.09.2022 Order No. This matter is taken up through hybrid mode.

01.

2. Heard Mr. S.P.Mishra, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Mr. N. Sarkar, learned counsel for the petitioners; Mr. A.K. Mishra, learned Addl. Government Advocate appearing for the State-opposite parties; Mr. P.K.Parhi, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India appearing along with Mr. D.R.Bhokta, learned Central Government Counsel; and Mr. R.C.Mohanty, learned counsel appearing for opposite party Nos. 4 and 5.

3. The petitioners, who are direct candidates for admission into the Post Graduate Course of Medical Science through a common entrance test conducted by the National Board Examinations for Medical Science, have filed this writ petition to quash the Notification issued by the Convenor, PG (Medical) Counselling Committee, Odisha-2022, which was floated in the website on 16th September, 2022, by which information regarding cut-off date for in-service category and completion of one year of compulsory rotator internship/Housemanship has been provided.

4. Mr. S.P.Mishra, learned Senior Counsel appearing along with Mr. N. Sarkar, learned counsel for the petitioners emphatically submitted that the NEET-PG, 2022 examination and

information bulletin has been issued under Annexure-1, wherein important dates have also been prescribed therein along with eligibility criteria of such examination has been prescribed as at Clause-4.1 and Clause 4.3 which read as follows:-

"4.1 Candidates in possession of MBBS degree or Provisional MBBS Pass Certificate recognized as per the provisions of the NMC Act, 2019 and the repealed Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and possessing permanent or provisional registration certificate of MBBS qualification issued by the NMC/the erstwhile Medical Council of India or State Medical Council and have completed one year of internship or are likely to complete the internship on or before 31st May 2022, may apply for NEET-PG 2022 through online application system at website https://nbe.edu.in.

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     4.3      Requests for appearing in NEET-PG 2022 from

candidates completing internship after 31st May 2022 or having qualifications that are not recognized as per the NMC Act, 2019 and the repealed IMC Act, 1956 shall be summarily rejected. Candidates are further advised not to canvass for the same."

5. The Government of Orissa issued a Post Graduate (Medical) Selection Guidelines for counseling and admission of candidates for Post-Graduate (Medical) and Post-MBBS NBEMS Diploma Courses in Government and Private Medical Colleges of the State 2022-23, which has been approved by the Government of Odisha, Department of Health & Family Welfare vide Government letter dated 15.10.2020, by which eligibility criteria has been prescribed under Clause-F-(3), which reads as follows:-

"F. Eligibility-

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3. Must have complete one year of Compulsory Rotatory Internship/Houseman ship by 31st March of current year of admission."

6. But subsequently a Corrigendum was issued for PG Guidelines 2022-23 by the Director Medical Education &

Training, Odisha on 18.06.2022, wherein it has been directed that the date mentioned as "31.03.2022" be read as "31.05.2022", so far as in-service candidates are concerned. Such fixation of date was challenged before this Court in W.P.(C) No. 16772 of 2022 and this Court held that for the in-service candidates, the cut-off date should be fixed as "31.03.2022" and consequentially this Court quashed corrigendum notice issued on 18.06.2022, which is annexed as Annexure-5 to this writ petition. Therefore, the in- service candidates became eligible and it should be confined to 31.03.2022, as per the guideline issued in Annexure-2 to the present writ petition. Thereby, no dispute remains, so far as admission of in-service candidates fixing the cut-off date as 31.03.2022, in view of the judgment passed by this Court. So far as the direct candidates are concerned, even though the date was fixed by the National Board of Examinations as 31.05.2022 as per the eligibility criteria under Clause-4.1, but subsequently the National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences, New Delhi issued a notice on 16.02.2022 under Annexure-6, extending the cut-off date to 31.07.2022. Meaning thereby, the cut-off date, for any direct candidates, who can be eligible for admission under NEET-PG 2022, has been extended up to 31.07.2022. The said notification was subject matter of challenge before the apex Court in W.P. No. 208 of 2022 and the apex Court upheld the cut-off date as 31.07.2022. Therefore, any direct candidate,who is eligible by 31.07.2022, can get admission by the National Board of Examination. But after the result was published when petitioner No.1 produced the documents for verification, the same was rejected contending that the date of completion of internship is 03.05.2022, as has been given in Annexure-11 series at page-169 of the brief. It is contended that even if the cut-off date was fixed

to 31.05.2022 as per eligibility criteria under Clause-4.1, the petitioner No.1 is eligible and also on the basis of the cutoff date, which has been extended by notice dated 16.02.2022 to 31.07.2022, the petitioner no.1 is eligible and, as such, the extended date, i.e., 31.07.2022 having been confirmed by the Apex Court, there is no iota of doubt that the cut-off date has been extended up to 31.07.2022. Thereby, petitioner No.1 is fully eligible for admission pursuant to NEET-PG examination conducted under the National Board of Examination for Medical Sciences. Therefore, rejection of her application vide Annxure-1 is in gross violation of the notice dated 16.02.2022, which has been confirmed by the apex Court and also as per the criteria fixed by the NEET-PG 2022 Examination Information Bulletin under Clause-4.1. Therefore, such fixation of cut-off date relying upon the letter under Annexure-10, which has been floated on 16.09.2022, incorporating the direct candidates mentioning "completion of one year of compulsory Rotatory Internship/Houseman Ship should be 31.03.20222" is not applicable to the petitioner No.1. Therefore the State authorities cannot abrogate the power and mis-interpret the notice issued by the Central Government, so far as admission of direct candidates is concerned. As such, the reliance placed on the judgment of this Court in the case of Dr.Manisha Vidyabhasini (supra) is being confined to the in-service candidates, the Convenor, P.G. Council, cannot club the same with the direct candidates to get the benefit.

7. Mr. R.C.Mohanty, learned counsel appearing for opposite party Nos. 4 and 5 submits that there may be a mistake by the authority and if it may so happen, the said clause may be deleted from the notification issued under Annexure-10. He seeks time to obtain instructions in the matter by the next date.

8. Issue notice to the opposite parties.

9. Three extra copies of the writ petition be served on Mr. A.K.Mishra, learned counsel appearing for the State-opposite parties in course of the day enabling him to obtain instructions or file counter affidavit.

10. Two extra copies of the writ petition be served on Mr. R.C.Mohanty, leaned counsel appearing for opposite party Nos. 4 and 5 in course of the day enabling him to obtain instructions or file counter affidavit.

11. One extra copy of the writ petition be served on Mr. P.K.Parhi, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India appearing along with Mr. D.R. Bhokta, learned Central Government Counsel for opposite party No.6 in course of the day enabling him to obtain instructions or file counter affidavit.

12. Since the admission process is being started very shortly and scrutinizing of documents is under process, this Court calls upon Mr. R.C. Mohanty, learned counsel appearing for opposite parties no. 4 and 5 to obtain instructions in the matter as expeditiously as possible, preferably by 23rd September, 2022.

13. Call this matter on 23rd September, 2022.

(DR. B.R. SARANGI) JUDGE

(G. SATAPATHY) JUDGE Ashok/Kishore