Petition No 28180 of 1988
IN Writ Petition No 9 13 of 1988 Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India Mrs K Hingorani and Ms Santosh Singh for the Petitioner 
AK Sen Not Present Dr LM Singhvi Vivek Gambhi r Parveen Kumar and BD Sharma for the Respondents
SP Singh for the Impleading party
The following Order of the Court was delivered ORDER This Court on 991988 after hearing counsel for t he petitioners in the writ petition made an ex parte order to the following effect Issue notice returnable on Tuesday the 13 th September 1988
In view of the allegations made in Par a graph 4 of the affidavit given by Vijay Trivedi the R e spondent No 2 is prohibited from performing any Chun ri Ceremony within Sri Rani Satiji s Mandir and the responden ts are directed to enforce this order on the th September 19 88 and on any other occasion thereafter until further order section The entire collection of money shall be separately account ed for and should be deposited into a nationalised bank so that appropriate directions after hearing both the parti es may be made by this Court in regard to the same    On 10th of September 1988 the annual Satiji Mela w as scheduled to be celebrated within the said temple premises 
The management of the temple respondent No 2 in t he writ petition has now applied for vacating the ad inter im order and for a 68 direction to the District Magistrate Jhunjhunu to retu rn the keys of the Bhetpatras of the temple and the box es containing the articles of gold and silver and also for a direction to him not to interfere in the matter of colle c tion of money as also collection of articles of gold a nd silver of deities located in the premises of the temple a nd to make such other orders as may be necessary to meet t he situation
We have heard Dr Singhvi in support of the petitio n Mrs Hingorani for the petitioners in the writ petiti on asking for sustaining the interim order and Mr Sharma f or the State of Rajasthan
An affidavit has been filed by t he District Magistrate of Jhunjhunu in the course of heari ng which has also been placed before us
Broadly two aspects require consideration 1 wheth er the Chunry  ceremony should be permitted to be perform ed within the temple and 2 whether out of the amounts whi ch are being deposited in the nationalised bank in terms of t he interim order the expenses for maintenance of the temp le complex performance of the daily rites as also the usu al charities should not be made
Under the Commission of Sati Prevention Act 198 7 glorification of Sati is strictly prohibited and that a ct has been declared to be an offence
Dr Singhvi by referri ng to different dictionaries has tried to impress upon us th at Chunry as such is not connected with glorification of Sa ti and is a ceremony connected with the traditional form of offering worship known as Sodash Upachar while Mrs Hingor a ni and Mr Sharma do not accept the submission made by D r Singhvi and have maintained that in the State of Rajasth an Chunry ceremony is always associated with glorifying Sa ti and the celebration is a part of the traditional process of religious offerings in Sati temples
This certainly is n ot the stage in the proceedings for a final view of the que s tion as to whether performance of Chunry ceremony amounts to glorification of Sati and the determination must be left to the final stage
We do not think it would be appropriate f or us to express any view beyond this point at this stage as the same may embarrass the bench which would ultimately he ar the matter
We are therefore of the view that the restraint i m posed on holding the Chunry ceremony within the temp le should continue without any variation
The contention of D r Singhvi that Chunry is a part of Sodash Upachar will have to be examined at length at the later stage
69 Now a look at the other aspect
There can be no t wo opinions that pending disposal of the writ petition t he temple complex has to be maintained and out of the inco me earned maintenance expense must be met
The submissi on advanced by Mrs Hingorani that the temple should be co n verted forthwith into rehabilitation camps for uncared f or ladies is certainly not one requiring any serious consider a tion
There is no provision in the statute or in any oth er law which would warrant such change of user of the premise section Similarly if out of the income of this institution a ny contribution was being made to sustain some social instit u tions of utility the support should not die out
The r e spondent No 2 is free to move the District Magistrate of Jhunjhunu in regard to these two aspects and in case t he District Magistrate is satisfied that appropriate fun ds should be released out of the deposits in the bank for o ne or both of the purposes indicated above he would be free to direct such money as may be found necessary to be withdra wn from the bank for being utilised for the purposes as may be specified by the District Magistrate m his order to be mad e
This disposes of the Civil Miscellaneous Petition


Summary:
Pursuant to the directions of the Supreme Court in Dr Dinesh Kumar  Ors vs Motilal Nehru Medical College Allahabad  Ors  regarding uniformity in post graduate medical education respondent No 1 the University of Delhi decided to adopt the three years course for the post graduate degree and a two years course for the diploma commencing from the academic session of 1988
However with a view to mitigating hardship to candidatesstudents who had already completed the house job and had become entitled to undergo the post graduate course in two years as a transitory provision the respondent University decided to continue the practice prevailing prior to 1988 for a year
It evolved a scheme whereunder the number of seats for the post graduate course and diploma course available in the previous year for a student who had completed one year s housemanship were left untouched
As a transitional provision the University agreed to fix 75 quota for the 1988 session only
As per a Note in the scheme candidates who had done house jobJunior Residency for period of one year were not eligible for admission to 3 years post graduate degree and 2 years post graduate diploma course
The prospectus however prescribed one common selection test for both the categories
A set of writ petitions were filed before the High Court challenging the scheme of the University mainly on the basis that when there was one selection test merit should prevail and classification in the manner indicated by the scheme was bad
The High Court made an interim 763 order requiring the University to have the selection completed on the basis of merit adjudged in the common selection test
Disposing of the Writ Petitions and some cases transferred from the High Court  HELD The seniors who have already done one year s housemanship and freshers belong to two categories and cannot be said to be equal
The question of test of comparative merit would not have arisen if the University had not prescribed a common selection test for these two categories
If the merit list of the selection test is followed more seniors are entitled to admission and the scheme of reservation would not work
765F G While selection in the higher course should be on the basis of merit in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case purely confined to a transitory measure the situation has to be handled not by first principles but by a somewhat informed pragmatic adhocism especially because the situation would not reoccur
766D The impasse created on account of rival claims by freshers and seniors has to have a rough and ready solution yet not arbitrary and as acceptable and satisfying as possible
766F With a view to providing some more seats for seniors the respondent University should create one seat in every speciality
Thus 21 additional seats will be available over and above the seats fixed by the University representing 75
From the reserved seats made for the freshers 21 seats being one from every speciality should be taken away and made available to the seniors
Thus 42 seats in all will be available for the seniors in the Post Graduate course to be filled up on the basis of inter se merit keeping the senior group apart
766G H 767A B The Central Government should make the necessary provisions for funds
The Indian Medical Council may provide the necessary accommodation by relaxing the requirements
767D Dr Dinesh Kumar vs Motilal Nehru College Allahabad  Ors   referred to