Board of Governors in Supersession of Medical Council of India vs Dr. Priyambada Sharma & Others

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

17 October 2022

Case No.

Civil Appeal No (s). 7534 of 2022

Result

Allowed

Bench

Ajay Rastogi, C.T. Ravikumar

Citation

[2022] 14 S.C.R. 997 : 2022 INSC 1103

Headnote

Education/Educational institutions: Medical admission – NEET-PG course – Time schedule fixed for admission to the medical colleges, last date not to be extended after 31st May – After the admission/counselling process was over on 31st May, 2019, approximately 153 seats remained vacant in State Quota of the postgraduate medical seats for the academic year 2019-20 – Respondent-students failed to secure admission to postgraduate medical seat because of their much lower rank in the order of merit – Writ petition by the respondents that although the final round of counselling on 31st May, 2019 is over, the postgraduate seats for academic session 2019-20 are still available/lying vacant and they may be considered for admission in the postgraduate medical course against the said vacant seats – Single Judge of the High Court by interim orders directed the appellant to grant provisional admissions to the students in postgraduate medical courses by ignoring the cutoff date-31st May and also ignoring the principle of merit, and these interim orders were later made absolute – In appeal before this Court, the interim orders as also the final order passed by the High Court, stayed – Held: Time schedule for admission to the postgraduate medical courses must be followed strictly leaving no discretion to any authority to permit admissions over the cutoff date under schedule for admission to postgraduate medical courses-31st May – Interim orders passed by the High Court which were later made absolute are not legally sustainable – Respondents participated in the second round of counselling but failed to get any seat in the postgraduate medical course because of lower rank in order of merit and by interim orders, the provisional admissions were granted to them ignoring the principle of merit which cannot be accepted – Furthermore, no sympathy can be shown to such students, and despite the stay order passed by this Court, if they are allowed to continue in postgraduate medical courses, the same would be illegal and such contemptuous action on the part of the authorities, cannot be approved – Thus, the orders passed by the High Court are quashed and set aside – Medical Council of India Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RASTOGI, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. The Board of Governors of Medical Council of India (now, “The National Medical Commission”) has filed these appeals assailing the judgment of the High Court of Calcutta directing respondent no.2West Bengal University of Health Sciences to admit the respondentcandidates initially by interim orders dated 04th June 2019, 16th July, 2019 and 30th July, 2019 passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court of Calcutta granting provisional admission pursuant to interim orders to the student-applicants in post-graduate

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