Uttarakhand High Court
SPA/360/2022 on 16 November, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND
AT NAINITAL
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI
AND
HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI
16TH NOVEMBER, 2022
SPECIAL APPEAL NO. 360 OF 2022
Between:
Vice Chancellor, Hemwati Nandan
Bahuguna Uttarakhand Medical
Education University and another. ...Appellants.
and
Dr. Sakshi Sah & others. ...Respondents
Counsel for the Appellants : Mr. Shailendra Nauriyal, learned counsel.
Counsel for the respondent No. 1 : Mr. Ganesh Kandpal, learned counsel.
Counsel for respondent nos. 2 & 5 : Mr. J.C. Pandey, learned Standing
Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand.
Counsel for respondent no. 3 : Mr. Parikshit Saini, learned counsel.
JUDGMENT : (per Sri Vipin Sanghi, C.J.)
Issue notice.
2. Mr. Ganesh Kandpal, learned counsel for
respondent no. 1, Mr. J.C. Pandey, learned Standing Counsel
for the State of Uttarakhand/respondent nos. 2 & 5 and Mr.
Parikshit Saini, learned counsel for respondent no. 3 appear
and accept notice.
3. We have heard learned counsels at some length.
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4. Though, there appears to be merit in the grievance
of the writ-petitioner that the appellants initially represented
that there would be two rounds of counselling, followed by a
mop up round, in terms of the schedule fixed by the Supreme
Court and communicated by the N.M.C., which was
subsequently changed by the appellants on 18.10.2022 to say
that there would be only one round of counselling called the
'main round' (as if the first and the second round are being
merged), followed by a mop up round, which misled the
respondent-writ petitioner into not registering and paying the
fee for the main round, the fact of the matter is that the
respondent despite being aware of the aforesaid decision to
conduct only one main round of counseling, followed by mop
up round on 18.10.2022, waited till the conclusion of main
round to approach this Court by filing the writ petition, only
on 02.11.2022. If she had approached this Court
immediately on or after 18.10.2022, there would still have
been ample time to direct the appellants to open the portal to
enable the respondent-writ petitioner, and others like her, to
register and deposit the fee to be able to participate in the
main round of counselling. She, however, waited till the
conclusion of the main round of counselling before
approaching the Court.
5. In these circumstances, in our view, it would not be
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equitable and it would cause grave administrative
inconvenience and it may also disrupt the process of
counselling, if the appellants are required to hold a special
round of counselling for the respondent-writ petitioner alone-
when there may be scores of other similarly situated
candidates, who have lost out on account of the appellants'
decision to hold only one round i.e. the main round of
counselling. The respondent-writ petitioner consciously did
not register herself and pay the fee for participating in the
main round - which she assumed was the first round, by
claiming that she desires to participate in the second round
(which was never to be held, or held). Therefore, it would
meet the ends of justice, if the respondent-writ petitioner is
permitted to participate in the mop up round and she is given
a choice of allocation, according to her merit.
6. Mr. Saini, who appears for the National Medical
Commission, submits that in the mop up round, whatever
seats in the State are left unfilled in the All India Quota, are
also added to the State Quota. Therefore, the kitty of the mop
up round is likely to be larger than the kitty of seats, which
would have been available, even if the second round of
counselling were to be held, in which the respondent-writ
petitioner desired to participate.
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7. We, therefore, modify the impugned order and
direct that the respondent-writ petitioner should be allowed to
participate in the mop up round, which is scheduled for
17.11.2022, according to her own merit.
8. The Appeal stands disposed of in the aforesaid
terms.
___________________
VIPIN SANGHI, C. J.
______________
MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI, J.
Dt: 16.11.2022
A/NT
