Case: State of Andhra Pradesh &amp; Others Vs. Lavu Narendranath &amp; Others

2. The facts are as follows. In the Andhra area of the State there are four Medical Colleges run by the Government and the total number of seats available for admission in the first year Integrated M.B.B.S. course in all the four colleges is 550. The State Government has been issuing rules every year after the publication of the results of the H.S.C. or S.S.L.C. Board of the University for selection of candidates for admission into the Medical Colleges. The test which was prescribed in July 1970 was the first of its kind. The test was duly held after the Additional Director of Medical and Health Services had issued a notification inviting applications from candidates for the purpose on July 31, 1970. Any one desiring to enter any of these Medical Colleges had to complete and file his application in the prescribed form by August 14, 1970 and appear at the Entrance Test to be conducted by the Director of Medical and Health Services on 30th August 1970 at any of the centres indicated in the rules. There was an exemption from appearance at such examination for candidates who had taken M. Sc or B.Sc Degree. The Government notification of 23rd July prescribed inter alia the following standard ofCandidates possessing the minimum qualification of H.Sc, (Multipurpose). I.S.C., P.U.C.; A.I.H S C or equivalent qualifications were eligible to appear for the Entrance Test provided that:(a) In the above qualifying examinations, the candidates had taken up Physical sciences and Biological sciences for study and examination.(b) Candidates had passed the qualifying examination in one attempt.(c) Candidates had obtained not less than 50% of the marks in Physical and Biological Sciences put together in their qualifying examination.(2) The Entrance Test was to consist of four papers of 50 marks each of the following subjects in two sessions:(a) The subject of Physical Sciences (Chemistry and Physics)(b) The subject of Biological Sciences (Zoology and Botany).The candidates had to appear and answer two papers i.e. Chemistry and Physical Sciences in the morning session and the remaining two papers i.e. Zoology and Botany in the evening session. The Entrance Test was to be conducted in a single day in two sessions each of two hours duration.(3) The standard of the test was to be comparable to the standard of qualifying examinations referred to above.(4) The test was to be partly objective and partly narrative.5137 candidates applied for the Entrance Test out of which 4,669 were accepted for the test. 4,331 candidates actually took the test. As the number of seats were limited the majority of the candidates who appeared for the test failed to secure admission. Several writ petitions were filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the validity of the Entrance Test prescribed and the method of selection for admission to the Medical Colleges.4. Writ Petition No 3859 of 1970 was filed on August 6, 1970, the main prayer being that the State should be directed to withdraw the notification published by the Additional Director of Medical and Health Services with a further direction to the State to admit the petitioners into the first year Integrated M.B.B.S. course on the basis of the marks which had been awarded to them in the public examinations. Reliance was placed by the petitioners on certain provisions of the Andhra University Act (II of 1926) under which inter alia the Andhra University had been constituted as a body corporate with powers to provide for instructions in such branches of learning as might be considered suitable and to make provision for research and for the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, to hold examinations, to confer degrees on persons who had pursued courses of study in the University and to institute and maintain colleges and hostels etc.5. The contention of the petitioners was that it was the Academic Council of the University which was competent to prescribe qualifications for admission into all degree courses in the University and it was not for the Government to substitute itself for a statutory Academic body and test the academic standards of candidates seeking admission into the Integrated M.B.B.S. course by the notification of the 23rd July. This was described as an attempt to assess the merits of the candidates on academic standards different from those fixed by the University. Holding the Entrance Test and making selection on the basis thereof in disregard of the marks obtained at the public examinations held by the University was further said to constitute an encroachment upon the Central subject listed in Entry 66 of List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. Besides the above, other grounds were also taken, namely, that the Government order was discriminatory, that it was not valid for want of publication in the official gazette, that the candidates were handicapped by reason of the fact that they did not have sufficient time to prepare themselves for the test and lastly that the test held by the Government interfered with the personal liberty of the candidates violating Art 21 of the Constitution.6. The learned trial Judge dismissed the Writ Petitions. In appeal, however, the appellate Bench took a different view. In substance the appellate court was of opinion that although the State Government had a right to prescribe rules and lay down its own criteria for making admissions into the colleges, it could not do so in total disregard of the marks obtained by the students at the University or other public examination necessary for eligibility and they could only do so it their action did not contravene the University Act or any other law. It was also held that the Government could hold a "test" in order to supplement or add to the qualifications already prescribed by the University or other educational authority for the purpose of assessing the merits of candidates but they could not hold a test in substitution for the qualifying examinations, as this would be encroaching upon the jurisdiction of the universities concerned in the matter of laying down academic standards of the students.

Court's reasoning:
11. With respect, it seems to us that the observations above quoted are equally applicable to the case before us, the only difference being that whereas in the Mysore case marks were awarded on the basis of the impression created at the interview and added in a certain manner to the marks obtained at the University examination in the case before us the marks obtained at the University only make candidates eligible to appear at the written test and it is the last test which is the determining factor as to who should be admitted and who should beabove case is not directly in point but it at least shows that a candidate has not an unqualified right to a seat in a medical college merely because he has obtained higher marks than another candidate at the qualifyingour view there is no substance in any of the contentions is will be apparent from our conclusions noted above and the decisions of this Court bearing on this point. The University Act, as pointed out, merely prescribed a minimum qualification for entry into the higher courses of study. There was no regulation to the effect that admission to higher course of study was guaranteed by the securing of eligibility. The Executive have a power to make any regulation which would have the effect of a law so long as it does not contravene any legislation already covering the field and the Government order in this case in no way affected the rights of candidates with regard to eligibility for admission: the test prescribed was a further hurdle by way of competition when mere eligibility could not be made the determiningour view there is no substance in this contention either. The written test was not in substitution of the University examination but it was something additional to that and the mere fact that a written test had been introduced in the year 1970 would be no ground for holding that the method of selection was invalid. Further no complaint can be made that the notice of examination was all too short or that it was never published in the Gazette. If it was short it affected everybody equally adversely and the figures showing how many candidates had taken the test demonstrates very clearly that everybody who had cared to sit for the examination had an opportunity of doing so. Publication of the notification in the Gazette was not called for by anyfail to see how refusal of an application to enter a medical college can be said to affect ones personal liberty guaranteed under that Article. Everybody, subject to the eligibility prescribed by the University, was at liberty to apply for admission to the Medical College. The number of seats being limited compared to the number of applicants every candidate could not expect to be admitted. Once it is held that the test is not invalid the deprivation of personal liberty, if any, in the matter of admission to a medical College was according to procedure established bydo not find it necessary to dilate on this point in view of our conclusion that even if personal liberty extends to such conduct there has not been any deprivation thereof in violation of any procedure established by law.