IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.M. No. 24735 of 2008 and CWP No. 16984 of 2008 Date of decision: 18.12.2008 Neenu Gandhi and others ..... PETITIONERS VERSUS Union of India and others ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present: Mr. Rajiv Atma Ram, Sr. Advocate, with Ms. Sunita Chauhan, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. R.K.Chugh, Advocate, for respondents No. 1 and 2. *** HEMANT GUPTA, J. (ORAL) C.M. No. 24735 of 2008 Application is allowed. Additional affidavit of petitioner No. 4 along with Annexure 'A' is taken on record. CWP No. 16984 of 2008 This order shall dispose of CWP Nos. 16984 of 2008, 17549 of 2008 and 17801 of 2008 as all these petitions arise out of same facts. Respondent No. 4 is a Medical College located at Jammu in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The said College is a Hindu minority institute and being a minority institution it is entitled to admit 50% of its total intake capacity from amongst students, who profess Hindu religion. The condition of resident i.e. resident of the State of Jammu and Kashmir is not C.M. No. 24735 of 2008 and -2- CWP No. 16984 of 2008 applicable in the case of such minority quota admissions. Such admissions are made on all India basis from amongst the persons professing Hindu religion. The petitioners were admitted against minority quota in the academic session 2001-02 on the basis of their merit in the Entrance Test conducted by the College on all India basis. The petitioners are not residents of Jammu and Kashmir but are residents of Punjab and other States. It has been further come on record that there were 100 seats for the MBBS course in the College- respondent No. 4 and 50 of such seats were filled up from amongst the seats of minority quota. The dispute is in respect of entitlement of the petitioners for admission to Postgraduate Course. As per the conditions of eligibility, for admission to Postgraduate course in the institutions, located in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, a candidate has to be resident of the said State. The petitioners do not fulfil such criteria and thus ineligible for admission to Postgraduate course in the said State of Jammu and Kashmir. The admission to Postgraduate Course in other medical colleges in the country is open to all candidates, who have done MBBS from the recognized medical college or even from the foreign countries, degrees of which are included in the Schedule to the Indian Medical council of India Act, 1956, including persons nominated for admission in the medical college in Jammu and Kashmir by the Government of India. But the petitioners are not entitled to compete for Postgraduate Course on the basis of Condition No. 1 of its prospectus for All India the Postgraduate Entrance Examination courses. The condition No. 1 has been incorporated on the C.M. No. 24735 of 2008 and -3- CWP No. 16984 of 2008 basis of Hon'ble the Supreme Court's order reported as1986 SC 1877 ( Dr. Dinesh Kumar vs. Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad). The relevant extract from the Hon'ble Supreme Court order reads as under:- “7. ...............There is in our opinion great force in this contention. If the students from the other states are not entitled to compete for admission to the medical colleges and institutions in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, it would clearly be inequitious to allow the students from the States of andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir to compete for admission in the medical colleges and institutions of the other States. The lack of reciprocity would plainly and inevitably result in inequity and giving of undue advantage to students from the States of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as against the students from other States. We are, therefore, of the view that the students from the States of andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir should not be entitled to appear in the All India Entrance Examination, unless the States of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir agree to make not less than 15% of the total number of seats for the MBBS/BDS course and not less than 25% of the total number of seats for the Postgraduate courses in their respective medical colleges or institutions available for admission on the basis of All India Entrance Examination.” The condition No. 1 appearing in the prospectus for All India Entrance Examination for admission to Post Graduate and Medical courses C.M. No. 24735 of 2008 and -4- CWP No. 16984 of 2008 reads as under:- “1. SCHEME OF ENTRANCE EXAMINATION-ALL INDIA QUOTA AND PARTICIPATING STATES The scheme for selection of candidates for admission to postgraduate medical courses for admission to 50% of total seats on all-India basis shall be applicable to all Medical/Dental Colleges/Institutions throughout the country and no Medical/Dental college/Institution shall hereafter conduct competitive entrance examination of its own for these seats on all-India basis, except the States of Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh which have been excluded by the Supreme Court from the purview of their judgments in this regard. Therefore, the students having passed their MBBS examination from any institutions in these two States shall not be eligible to participate in the All-India competitive Entrance Examination for selection of candidates against these seats. However, the candidates who were nominated by the Government of India to do MBBS from Medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir shall be eligible to apply for admission, subject to submission of a bond on a Non-Judicial Stamp Paper of Rs. 10/- to this effect. A copy of the nomination letter must be attached with the bond. “ The argument of the learned counsel for the petitioners is that when the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed order in the year 1986, there was no college permitting admission to the residents other than that of Jammu and Kashmir but now respondent No. 4-College permit 50% students from C.M. No. 24735 of 2008 and -5- CWP No. 16984 of 2008 other States to be admitted in the MBBS courses. Thus, the basis of order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court has undergone change. The petitioners are ineligible for admission in the State of Jammu and Kashmir as they are not residents of that State. The petitioners are also ineligible for All India Entrance Test in terms of condition No. 1 for All India Entrance Examination for admission to Post Graduate Courses. The petitioners are eligible to practice as per the Schedule to the Indian Medical Council of India Act, 1956 but are not permitted to undergo Postgraduate Courses in any of the institution in the country. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the rights of the petitioners to undergo Postgraduate Course cannot be negated in such manner. All citizens of this country have a right to compete for Postgraduate Courses but the petitioners cannot be permitted to undergo Post Graduate course in view of the condition imposed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. But since such condition has been imposed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, we are unable to grant any relief to the petitioners. It is open to the petitioners to take recourse to the remedy available to them including one to move an application before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. This petition is disposed of. Copy of the order be given dasti on payment of usual charges. ( HEMANT GUPTA ) JUDGE ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) December 18, 2008 JUDGE pj