. [2017] 4 S.C.R. 69 ..

ASHISH RANJAN AND ORS. A

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.]

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 F 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 G . 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

. 69 .

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 & Os. 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

D CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION: I.A. No. 44513 of 2017

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 Repondents.

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.

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.

 . -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 wee left with no recourse ewept to

stop the co.unelling process. Upon. ex<m1ining the complaits ·. 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 recounselling 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

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 schedle 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

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 H

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 F 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 G 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 H complete the admission by October 7, 2016."

(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

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 E 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.

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 Aprilto 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 Councilofindia 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.

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 B and Diploma Courses. .

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