ASHISH RANJAN AND ORS.  versus UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS
[2017] 4 S.C.R. 69, Supreme Court of India, 2017
Outcome: IA disposed
Segment: Body
. [2017] 4 S.C.R. 69 .. 
ASHISH RANJAN AND ORS. 
·A 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS 
·(I.A. No. 44513 of2017) 
KATIHAR MEDICAL COLLEGE 
... APPLICANT 
B 
with 
. 
.. . 
· (I.A. No. 44508 of2017) 
·MATA GUJRI MEMORIAL MEDICAL 
COLLEGE & LIONS SEVA KENDRA HOSPITAL 
KISHANGANJ 
... APPLICANT 
c. 
with 
(I.A. No. 45886 of2017) 
' STATE OF BIHAR 
.. 
. ll1 
(Writ Petition (Civil) No. 76 of2015) 
JUNE09,2017 
... APPLICANT 
(ASHOK BHUSHAN AND. DEEPAK GUPTA, JJ.] 
D 
Education/Educational institutions: 
E 
Medical admissions - Grant of relaxation in time schedule 
for admission -_Applications by Private Medical College-applicants. · 
seeking direction to State of Bihar via BCECEBoard to hold afresh 
counselling for the seats available in the Applicants' Colleges which 
could not be filled up due to haphazard and arbitrary counsellings 
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conducted by the J)oard and thai the last date for-PG Course in 
Medical Colleges may be relaxed and extended - H--eld: Time 
schedule framed. by the Medical Council of India as approved by· 
· this Court itself indiCates that proper care was. takefl"in fixing the 
time schedule giving sujfident tiille for filling Up Se(ltS which could 
not be filled up by the first, second and MOP-up counselling~ Said 
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. schedules have to be adhered to and normally this Court is reluctant 
'to grant relaxation in time schedule - However, when first and 
· second rounds of counselling were completed on 30.05.2017, after 
cancelling of earlier counsellings, there
was no time schedule to 
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS · 
· [2017) 4 S.C.R. 
take step.Y forfilling up vacant seats of Gover11me11t Medical 
Colleges and Private Medical Colleges - Jn view thereof, the State 
was right in asking for giving further time .to take steps to fill tp the 
vacant seats in PG Degree Courses and Diploma Courses - Thus; 
time extended for completing the admission process by 15. 06.2017 
by holding an extended counselling by the Board - Eligibility 
confined to those students only who were invited in the last 
counselling and could not.take admission. 
State. of Maharashtra & O~s. v. D1: D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth 
& Ors. 2016 (9) SCC 40i : 2016 (9) SCALE 404; State 
of Haryana and another etc.etc. v. Di: Narender Soni 
and others etc.etc. C. A. Nos. 8179-8181 of 2017 dt. 
25.5.2017 - referred to. 
Case Law Reference 
2016 (~) sec 401 
referred to 
Para 11 
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CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: I.A. No. 44513 of 2017 
E 
WITH 
I.A. No. 44508 of 2017 
WITH 
I..A. N,o. 45886of2017 in Writ Petition.(Civil) No. 76of2015. 
Under A11icle 32 of the Constitution oflndia. 
Venkateswara Rao Anumolu, Adv. for the Petitioners. 
S. S. Shamshery, AAG., Ajit Sinha, Salman Khurshid, Sr. Advs., 
F 
Ajay Sharma, Ms. Rekha Pandey, R. K. Rathore, G. S. Makker, Ravi 
Kant, RanjayKumar Pandey, Amit Shanna, Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Ad vs. for 
the Re~pondents. 
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The Order of the Court was delivered by 
ASIIOK BHUSIIAN, J, J.. We have heard learned counsel for 
the applicants, Shri Gaurav Sharma, learned
counsel appearing for the 
Medical Council oflndia. Shri Ajit Kumar Sinha, learned senior counsel 
appearing for the Union of India and learne~ counsel for the State of 
Bihar.
ASHISH RANJAN v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS 
[ASHOK BHUSHAN, J.] 
2. I.A.No.44513of2017 has been filed by Katihar Medical College. 
whereas I.A.No.44508of2017 has been filed by another private Medical 
College, namely, Mata Gujri Memorial Medical College and Lions Seva · 
Kendra Hospital Kishanganj. Both the applications have been filed on 
291h May, 2017 praying for direction to State of Bihar via the BCECE 
Board to hold a fresh counselling for the seats available in the Applicants' 
Co lieges which are lying vacarit and could not be filled up due to haphazard 
and arbitrary counsellings conducted by the Board. The Applicants pray 
that the last date for PG Course in Medical Colleges i.e~ 31.05.2017 
may be relaxed and extended in respect· of the vacant seats· in' the· 
Applicants' Institutions. 
3. The State ofBihar filed a reply in the aforesaid two Applications 
and has also filed I.A.No.45886 of 2017 praying for the following 
directions: 
"A. Allow the present application for direction permitting the 
State Authorities an extension of 2 weeks time from the date 
of the order to conduct counselling or any other period that 
this Hon 'ble Court may deem appropriate for completing the 
counseling and admission procedure of abovementioned 
vacant seats in PG Courses as well as in Diploma Co!irses 
acros_s ihe State. of Bihar. 
· 
B. Pass such other order(s) as this Hon 'ble Court may deem 
fit in the facts and cirucmstances of the present case. " 
4. The State ofBihar in
its reply to the Applications as well as in 
the Application for direction have given details of counselling and 
procedure adopted in paragraphs 12 to 21, the sequence of the events, 
counselling held and the reasons for cancellillg the counselling as well as 
second part ohhe counselling. Paragraphs 12 to 21 are as follows: 
,.12. It is submitted that 1" Counselling was done by the 
BCECE Board from 10.04.2017 to 15.04.2017. 
13. Tbat in the meanwhile, the Union government 
communicated that 143 seats of PG courses and 32 seats of 
Diploma courses belonging to the Central Quota have 
remained vacant from the All India Quota. The State of Bihar · 
was subsequently asked to fill up these vacant seats as state 
quota. 
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· . -14. ·That thereafter, the 2"J counseiling w;s conducted by the 
BCECE Boardfrom 16.05.2017 to 20.05.2017 but'during the · 
· course ofcounselling some students created nuisance over 
the issue of reservation poi icy. ·r-; 
15. It is submitted that this led to a law and order situation 
. and the State authorities we~e left with no recourse ewept to 
stop the co.un~elling process. Upon. ex<m1ining the complai~ts ·. 
of the student~. the State Government.decidecl to cancel: the 
1" as well as 2'"' part of Counselling and rescheduled it on 
28.05.2017 and 29.05.2017. 
16. In the meantime, the State authorities carefully re.viewed 
this issue and came out with a new resolution issued vide 
Memo No. 569(1) dated 27.05.2011,_]}lis resolution introduced 
a new formula for counselling in PG courses. 
17. That a perusal of the Clause (iii) of the said resolution 
dated 27.05.2017 provides that far admission in PG courses 
in year 2017, all seats of State Quot9 and left over-seats of 
Ail India Quota will be amalgwnated and it wa~ further that 
the counseling/or all .the seats will be conducted afresh under 
State Reservation· Rules. as described. in Clause (i) imd (ii). 
18. That in llg_ht of the abovesaid resolution, fresh re-
counselling was done on 28.05.2017 and 29.05.2017 and 
second counseling and mop-up counseling was done on 
31.05.2017 by whicfr349 seats were allotted in PG Degree 
Courses and Diploma
Course~. 
19. That upon completion of 2"J Counselling and Mop-up 
COlf//Selling, 62 seats .(PG) and 20 seais (Diploma) w:e vacant 
in Government Medical Colleges. A true ·copy of 82 .vqcant 
seats of stude1its in Government Medical Colleges is annexed 
hetewith as Annexure A. I. 
. 
. 
. 
20. That for Private Medical Colleges, the 1" Counselling 
·was done on 14.04.2017 and 15.04.20j7. The 2'"1 Counselling 
was done on 24.05.2017 and 25.05.2017. The Mop-up 
Counselling was conducted on 30.05.2017. 
21. that it is humbly submitted that 82 seats (62-PG and 20-
. Diploma) in Government Medical Colleges and 70
ASHISH RANJAN v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS 
[ASHOK BHUSHAN, J.] 
seats(62-PG and 8- Diploma) in Private Medical Colleges 
are lying vacant across the State of Bihaf, as on date. " 
5. Shri Gaurav Sharma, learned counsel appearing for the Medical 
Council oflndia has opposed the Applit:ations filed by the private Medical 
Colleges as well as Application filed by the State ofBihar. He submits 
that in the schedule fixed for admissi011 which has been approved by this 
Court by order dated 18.01.2016 in Writ Petition (C)Nos. 314 and 328 of 
2015, 31" May is the last date for admission in the PG Medical Courses. 
He has referred to the note contained in "time Schedule for completion 
of Admission Process for PG (Board Specially) Medical Courses for All 
India.Quota and State Quota". He has referred to note '3' which provides 
as follows: 
"3. In. any circumstances, last date for admission/joining will 
· not be extendea after 31" May/' 
6. Shri Gaurav Sharma submits that this Courttime and aga:in has 
reiterated that time sched~le prescribed by the Medical Council oflndia 
is to be strictly adhered to. lt is submitted by Shri Sharma that large 
number of seats which are said to be vacant are the branches which 
normally are not preferred by the students, he has referred to page 11 qf 
the Application of State ofBihar that is Vacancy Rep9rt after Coµnselling 
held on 31.05.2017. In support of his submission he further contends 
that high fee structure as prescribed by the private
Medical Colleges 
who have given annual fee as Rs.40 lacs as well as Bank Guarantee for 
next tw~ years fee is the reason due to which large .number of students 
are unable to take admission and the Colleges themselves have to bl.ame 
for such stringent conditions for admission and they cannot claim any 
extension oftime schedule ~hich has already been fixed by the Medical 
Council of India and approved by this Court by judgment dated 
18.01.2016. 
7. Shri Ajit K1,1mar Sinha, learned senior counsel appearing for 
Union oflndia submits that when the time schedule has been fixed by 
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this Court, the same cannot be allowed to be changed on the strength of · G 
IA. He submits that by the !As; applicants cannot ask for review of the 
judgment and sort of review the time schedule fixed for admission cannot 
be allowed to be changed. 
8. Learned counsel for the private Colleges in support of their 
applications contend that the postponement of counselling, time and again 
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and ultimately cancelling first and second part of the counselling and 
rescheduling it on 281h and 291h May was reason due to which large 
number of students could not take admission. It is submitted that initially 
there was no All India Puqlication of the counselling programme. It is 
submitted that first as well as second counsellings were re.scheduled 
and postponed on several occasions. It is submitted that a large number 
of seats are vacan.t in the Applicants' Institutions. In Katihar Medical 
College, 41 PG seats in different subjects are vacant after the last date 
of second counselling whereas in Mata Gujri Memorial Medical College 
number of vacant seats in PG Course is 48. 
9.'Learned counsel appearing for the State ofBihar has given a 
sequence of events pertaining to first and second counselling. It is 
submitted that when second counselling was conducted by the Board 
·from 16.05.2017 to 20.05.2017, during the course of counselling some · 
students created nuisance over the issue of reservation policy which led 
to a law and order situation and the State authorities were left with no 
recourse except to stop the counselling process. Upon examining the 
complaints of the students, the State Government decided to cancel the 
first as well as second part of the counselling and rescheduled it on 
28 .05.2017 and 29 .05.2017. Further, a new resolution was passed on 
27.05.2017 introducing new formula for
counselling in PG Courses. 
Further, wherein all seats of State Quota and left over seats of All India 
Quota will be amalgamated and it was decided that the counselling for 
all the seats will be conducted afresh under State Reservation Rules. 
The sequence of events as given by the State ofBihar has already been 
noted and extracted above. 
10. Learned counsel for the Applicants has also placed reliance 
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on various orders of this Court wherein this Court has granted relaxation 
in time schedule for admission. The Applicants have placed reliance on 
the followingjudgments of this Court in above respect: 
(!) Judgment of this Court in C.A.No.9835 of 2016 (State of 
Mallaraslltra & Ors. vs. Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeet/1 & Ors.) wherein 
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this Court issued direction in paragraph 12(v) where time for completion 
of admission which is J01h September, 2016 was extended by 71h October, 
2016. Paragraph 12(v) of the judgment is as follows: 
"12(v). Since it may not be possible to complete the process 
of admission by September 30, 2016, we extend the time to 
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complete the admission by October 7, 2016."
ASHISH RANJAN v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS 
[ASHOK BHUSHAN, J.] 
(II) Learned counsel also placed reliance on judgment of this Court 
dated 251h May, 2017 in C.A.Nos.8179-8181 of 2017 (State of Ilaryana 
and anotlier etc.etc. vs. Dr. Narender Soni mu/ others etc.etc. Jn 
paragraph 17 of the judgment following was held: 
"17. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, the 
State of Haryana, if it wishes to give .weightage for admission 
in postgraduate courses under the proviso to Regulation 9(/V), 
it Jnust come out with a fresh notification identifying remote 
and/or difficult areas as discussed in the present order, within 
one week from today and to facilitate the same, the last date 
for admission is extended to 10'1' of June, 2017. " 
(lll) Order of this Court dated 29.05.2017 in SLP(C) Nos.15859-
15860 of2017 with regard to State of Jammu & Kashmir, the time was. 
extended till l 51h J\lne>2017. The order of this Cou11 is as follows: ' . 
''Having regard to the peculiar facrs of these cases, the 
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special leave petitions are dismissed, leaving the question of D 
law open. 
Since the petitioner will have to do ji-esh exercise in terms 
of the order passed by the High Court, time to do that exercise 
is extended till 15'1' June, 2017. 
We are conscious of the fact that in other cases time is 
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extended only till 10'1' June, 2017. However, in the peculiar 
situation in the State of Jammu & Kashmi1; as an exceptional 
case, time is extended till
15'1' June, 2017. 
The Special Leave Petitions are dismissed. 
Pending application(s), if any, stands disposed of 
accordingly. " 
11. From the facts brought up by the State ofBihar it is apparent 
that in Government Medical Colleges 62 seats in PG and 20 seats in 
Diploma are vacant whereas in Private Medical Colleges 62 seats in PG 
and 8 seats in Diploma are vacant. As noted above, the Private Medical 
Colleges have filed these Applications on 291h May, 2017 that is well 
before the last date of completing the admission. In reply to the said 
Applications all necessary facts have been stated by the State of Bihar 
in giving details of first and second counselling, re-scheduling the 
counselling and holding the MOP-UP counselling on 31" May, 2017. 
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12. From the perusal of the time schedule of counselling as framed 
by the Medical Council oflnd.ia and its Regulation and approved by th is 
Court on 18.01.2016, it is clear that the time schedule for first.round 
counselling for State Quota was from 4'h April·to 15th April whereas 
second round counselling was to .be conducted between 11 !h May to 20th 
May. Although, the State initially held the first and second counselling 
within the time schedule but decision was taken to cancel the first and 
second part of the counselling on 26th May. The notificatioffwas issued· 
by the Government ofBihar on 26'h May, 2017 informing cancellation of· 
first and second part of the counselling with regard to the Medical 
Colleges of State. Councellings with regard to private Medical Colleges 
for PG Courses were also re"scheduled and adjourned. 
13. Learned counsel for the Medical Council·ofindia has also 
brought on record notice issued for MOP-UP counselling for Privafe 
Medical/Dental Colleges which was to take place on 30th May, 2017. · 
With regard to the admission in State ofBihar,. the State itself has come 
up referring to various practical difficulti¥s and reasons for disruption of 
counselling process. The time schedule framed by the Medical Council 
of India as approved by this Court itself indicates that proper care has 
been taken in fixing the time schedule giving sufficient time for filling up 
seats
which could not be filled up by the first, second and mop-up 
counselling. When first and second rounds of counselling have been 
completed on JO•h May, after cancelling of earlier counsellings, there 
·was no time schedule to take Steps for filling up vacant seats of . 
Government Medical Colleges and Private Medical Colleges. It is true 
.that the time schedules fixed by th.e Medical Council oflndia and approved 
by this Court have to be adhered to and normally this Court is reluctant 
to grant relaxation in time schedule. However, learned counsel for the 
·Applicants have referred to various circumstances where this Court 
due to compelling reasons gave limited relaxation in the time schedule 
for completion of admission. With regard to the postgraduate admission 
for the year 2017-18, ·this Court ha~ already granted extension of time in 
the State ofHarayana and J & K. With regard to ·State of J & K extension 
has been granted till J 5th June, 2017 to complete the process of admission. 
Thus, stand is taken by the State of Bihar that no prejudice sl1all be 
caused fo any stakeholder in the event the State Authorities are granted 
·an extension for completing the counselling and admission process for 
filling up vacant seats in PG Courses as well as Diploma Courses across 
the State of Bihar.
. ASHISH RANJAN v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS 
77 
[ASHOK BHUSHAN, J.] 
14. In view of the facts and peculiar circumstances in which State , A 
ofBihar had to cancel first and second part of counsell.ing and had fixed 
fresh counselling on 29th and JQth May and looking to the substantial 
vacant seats both in Government Medical Colleges and private Medical 
Colleges, we are satisfied that the State is right in asking for giving 
fu1iher time to take steps to fill up the vacant seats in PG Degree Courses 
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and Diploma Courses. 
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15. Thus, in the facts and circumstances of the case, we extend 
time for completing the admission process by ] 5th June, 2017. by holding 
an extended counselling by the Board. We further direct that only those 
students shall be invited to ,pa1iicipate in extended counselling whose 
Roll numbers were reflected both in the Government Medical Colleges 
and Private Medical Colleges in the last notice for counselling and the 
eligibility is confined to those students only who were invited in the last 
counselling and could not take admission. 
16. All the applications are disposed of accordingly. 
Nidhi Jain 
IAs. disposed of 
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