AMANJIT SINGH GILL ETC.versusDIRECTOR GENERAL OF HEALTH SERVICES ETC

             AMANJIT SINGH GILL ETC.
                                                                          A
                        v.
    DIRECTOR GENERAL OF HEALTH SERVICES ET<::.

                       NOVEMBER 21, 1988

    [MURARI MOHON DUTT AND S. NATARAJAN, JJ.J                             B

      Professional Colleges-Admission to.

      Medical Colleges-Admission to-All India Entrance Examina-
tton for MBBS/BDS course-Vacant seats as a result of drop nut ,in
number of candidates allocated seats-Guidelines issued by Court for       C
allocation of vacant seats.

     The petitioners in the writ petitions had been .allotted seats in
MBBS/BDS courses In various Medical/Dental Colleges. They sought
change, and wanted admissions in colleges which were near their home-
towns.                                                                 D

      The Union of India, re~pondent in the writ petitions also filed
Civil Miscellaneous Petitions &eeking directions of the Court in the mat·
ter of the allocation of 532 vacant seats in the medical colleges In the
MBBS/BDS courses pursuant to the result of the All India Entrance
Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education, E
New Delhi.

      Disposing of the Writ and Civil Miscellaneous petitions the Court
laid down guidelines to be followed:

      HELD: 1. The candidates, who have been allocated seats to the F
Dhanbad Medical College which Is not a recognised College, by the
Medical Council of India should first be reallocated to the recognised
medical colleges having vacancies keeping In view the minimum
distance from their home-town•. [907H; YO~AJ

      2. Those candidates wli11 have exercised their choice for MBBS G
c!lurse only or to MBBS course by way of first preference and to BDS
course by way of second preference and admitted to BDS Course .for
want of seats in the MBBS Course shall, if they or any of them desire to
be admitted In the MBBS Course, be absorbed against the available
vacant seats in order of merit. [908B-C!
                                                                         H
                                 905
     906         SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [1988] Supp. 3 S.. C.R.

A,      3." The ·~ac~l!t Millis o~ !JQ~ ~eatfa;: ~hei:eaf!er available. sl!ould
· he offered to the candidates on the waiting list in ortler of merits. [908CJ

            4. The candidates will be given maximum time of twenty days
    · to join the medical colleges, failing with the seats will be declared
      vacant. [908F]
B
           5. The ;illocation of MBBs seats already made shall not be
     disturbed. [908F]

           6, The Director General of Health Services, shall consider the
C    question of allotment to candidates, who have been already admitted to
     MBBS or BDS Course, nearer to their home-town in order ofmerit. [908Gl

           [The Director General of Health Services to deal with the cases of
     the petitioners in the different writ petitions and also the cases of the
     other candidates in accordance with the above guidelines and dispose of
D    the same within a period of three weaks.] l9IOBJ

         ORIGINAL JURSIDCTION: Writ Petition (Civil) No. 961 of
     1988Etc.

           (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India).
E
           Kuldip Singh, Additional Solicitor General, Rajindra Lal
     Chopra, A.S. Pundir, Bharat Sangal, Dr. (Mrs.) Roxna S. Swamy,
     M.C. Dhingra, Prem Malhotra and Ms. A. ·subhashini for the
     Petitioners.

F        Madan Lokur, Manik Karanjawala, C.M. Nayyar arid S.K.
     Mehta for the Respondents.

           The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

            DUTT, J. These writ petitions relate to the allocation of seats in
G     medical colleges in the MBBS/BDS Course pursuant to the result of
      the All India Entrance Examination conducted by the Central Board
    · of Secondary Education, New Delhi, in respect of 15 per cent of the
      total number of MBBS/BDS seats· in ·medical colleges of different
      States.

H          Before dealing with the individual writ petitions, we may refer to
              A.S. GILL v. DIRECTOR GENERAL [DUTT, J.]                907

an application made by the Union of India being C.M.P. No. 29264 of          A
1988 In Writ Petition (Civil) No. 348-52 of 1985 praying for suitable
directions in the matter of allocation of vacant seats. It has been stated
in this application that the results of the All India Entrance Examina-
tion conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education for
admission in the MBBS/BDS Course were declared on July 15, 1988.
                                                                             B
A merit list of 1,600 candidates together with a waiting list of 1,000
candidates was sent to the Director General of Health Services by the
Central Board of Secondary Education for making allocations of
candidates to various medical colleges for admission to MBBS/BDS
Course, as the case may be. The Director General of Health Services
allocated 1,428 candidates to MBBS Course and 111 candidates to
BDS Course in the various medical/dental colleges. Further, it is            c
stated that on the basis of information received in the office of the
Director General of Health Services, 532 candidates have not joined in
all these courses and, accordingly, the said 532 seats have been lying
vacant.
                                                                             D
      In order to decide the criteria to be adopted for allocation of
vacant sear> as a result of drop-outs in the number of candidates who
had been allocated MBBS/BDS seats in various medical/dental col-
leges, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Secretary,
Ministry of Health and Family Affair. In this meeting, the Chairman of
the Central Board of Seconoary Education, Secretary, Medical
Council of India, and representatives of the Ministry of Law and
                                                                             E
Justice participated, besides others from the Ministry of Health and
Family Affair·and the Directorate General of Health Services. The
Committee took a decision regarding the allocation of seats in the
MBBS/BDS Course. The Committee has also made certain sugges-
tions regarding the guidelines to be followed for the purpose of filling
                                                                             F
up the vacant seats in the MBBS/BDS Course.

       Mr. Kuldip Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General, submits
that this Court may approve of the suggestions made by the said Com-
mittee or lay down the guidelines for the purpose of filling up the
vacant seats. After hearing the learned Counsel of the petitioners in
.these writ petitions and after considering the suggestions of the com-      G
 mittee and the submissions made by the learned Additional Solicitor
 General, we direct that the following guidelines should be followed for
the purpose of filing up the said 532 seats in the MBBS/BDS Course:

      1. The candidates, ·who have been allocated seats to the
                                                                             H
      Dhanbad Medical Collejle which is not a recognised College by
    908        SUPREME COURT REPORTS                [1988] Supp. 3 S.C.R.

          the Medical Council of India after 1982, should first be real-
A         located to the recognised medical colleges having vacancies
          keeping in view the aspect of the minimum distance from their
          home-towns.

          2. Those candidates who have exercised their choice for MBBS
B         Course only or to MBBS Course by way of first preference and to
          BDS Course by way of second preference and admitted to BDS
          Course for want of seats in the MBBS Course shall, if they or any
          of them desire to be admitted in the MBBS Course, be absorbed
          against the available vacant seats in order of merit. The change
          from BDS Course to MBBS Course will, however, be at their
          own cost and responsibility.
c
          3. The vacant MBBS or BDS seats, thereafter available, should
          be offered to the candidates on the waiting list in order of merit.
          Allocation may be made to medical colleges on the basis of the
          five preference indicated by the candidates in the application
D         forms. Any allocation of seat made to a candidate in the waiting
          list either in the MBBS or BDS Course shall be final and 'no
          request for change ,from one course to the other will be
          entertained. In the case of those candidates in the waiting list,
          who cannot be allocated to medical colleges on the basis of five
          preferences given by them in the application forms, the Director
E         General of Health Services will allocate them colleges as near to
          their' places of residence as possible subject to availability of
          seats in those nearby colleges.

          4. The candidates will be given maximum time of twenty days to
          join the medical colleges allotted to them, failing which the seats
p         will be declared vacant.

          5, The allocation of MBBS seats already made shall not be
          disturbed.
                                        ,.
          6. The Director General of Health Services shall consider the
G         question of allotment of medical colleges to candidates, who
          have been already admitted to MBBS or BDS Course, nearer to
          their home-towns in order of merit.
      '
          7. Absorption in the said 532 vacant seats of candidates who
          have already been admitted in the BDS Course and reallotment
H         of medical i:olleg~s to candidates also already admitted in the
             A.S. GILL v. DIRECTOR GENERAL (DUTI, J.I                 909

     MBBS or BDS Course, as the case may be, nearer to their home-
                                                                             A
     towns, and the reallocation to the recognised medical colleges of
     candidates. who have been already allocated seats to the
     Dhanbad Medical College, shall be made within a period of
     three weeks from today.

      The petitioner Amanjit Singh Gill in Writ Petition (Civil) No.         B
961 of 1988 is a resident of Punjab. He has been admitted in the MBBS
Course in the Tamil Nadu Medical College. He prays that the respon-
dent may be directed to allot a seat in Patiala Medical College,
Punjab, whch is near to his residence.

     The petitioner Shalu Sood in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1110 of
1988 has been allotted a seat in the BDS Course in S.C.B. Medical            c
College, Cuttack, and she has since joined the said College. According
to her two seats in BDS Cour~e are lying vacant in Delhi. No particu-
lars have, however, been given by her as to in which medical college in
Delhi, the two seats are lying vacant. Be that as it may, she prays for
the allotment of one of such seats to her in order of merit.                 D

       In Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1071 of 1988, the petitioner Vimal
Mehta, who is a resident of Faridabad, Haryana, has been allotted a
seat in the MBBS Course in Darbhanga Medical College, Bihar, which
is far off from the place of residence of the petitioner. On behalf of the
petitioner preference has been given first to a medical college in Delhi     E
and second to a medical college in Rohtak in the State of Haryana.

      The grievance of the petitioner Mahesh Dutt in Writ Petition
(Civil) No. 1056 of 1988 is that although 7 seats,in the MBBS Course
have been lying vacant in the Medic8! College Rohtak ·in respect of
which he gave his first preference, he has been allotted a seat in the       p
Medical College Dhanbad. The home-town of the petitioner is in
Haryana and it is prayed by him that he should be allotted a seat in the
MBBS Course in the Medical College Rohtak. The petitioner has,
however, already joined the Medical College Dhanbad.

      The case of Kumari Shilpa Mehra, the petitioner in Writ Petition G
(Civil) No. 936 of 1988, is that she has been allotted a seat in the BDS
Course at the Government Dental College, Bombay, although candi-
dates who have secured less marks than her have been admitted in
MBBS Course. The petitioner has already joined the BDS Course in
the said Government Dental College, Bombay. It is prayed by her that
she may be allotted a seat in the MBBS Course in any medical college H
in Bombay in order of merit.                      '
    910         SUPREME COURT REPORTS               [1988l Supp. 3 S.C.R.

A          The guidelines for filling up the said 532 seats in the MBBS/BDS
    Course cover the cases of the petitioners in the different writ petitions
    mentionetl above. Instead of giving separate directions in each of the
    .writ petitions, we direct the Director General of Health Services to
    deal with all the above cases and also the cases of other candidates in
    accordance with the above guidelines laid down by us. All the cases
B   shall be disposed of by the Director General of Health Services within
    a period of three weeks from today. The Director General, after dis-
    posal of the representations of the writ petitioners and others with
    regard to_ the filling lip of the said 532 vacant seats in the MBBS/BDS
    Course, shall submit a report to this Court within six wee)<:s from
    today.
c
         The writ petitions and C.M.P. No. 29264 of 1988 are disposed of
    as above. There will, however, be no order as to costs in any of them.

    N.V.K.                                             Petitions disposed of