S.RAVINDRA BHAT, J. - (1.) These appeals were heard with the consent of learned counsel for the parties.
(2.) The appellants are aggrieved by a decision of a Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court, which upset the findings of a learned Single Judge of that High Court, who found that the change of seat matrix for admission to post graduate (PG) medical and dental seats in colleges in the State of Rajasthan, for the academic year 2020-21, by eliminating the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) quota was unsustainable in law. The appellants were admitted pursuant to the direction issued by the learned Single Judge, who had ruled that the deletion of such quota was contrary to law. Two sets of appeals and intervention applications arise for consideration: one, appeals arising from petitions filed by Dr. Nilay Gupta, and Dr. Surmil Sharma, the original writ petitioners (who had succeeded before the single judge and were consequently given admission as NRI candidates) and two, appeals filed by Dr. Arushi Mittal, Dr. Priyanka Sharma, Dr. Anjali Agarwal, Dr. Aditya Punia, Dr. Varun Bhargava and Dr. Deepak Ramnani, who are aggrieved by the impugned judgment inasmuch as the admissions they were granted pursuant the single judge's directions, despite not being parties to the original writ petition, have now been overturned. An application to intervene has been preferred by Dr. Tirth Jitendra Kumar Modi, who was granted admission to a PG course in the respondent private college on 27.08.2020, after the impugned judgment was delivered; he has paid the fees and attended classes so far.
(3.) The factual matrix is that the process of admission to PG medical and dental courses for academic year (AY) 2020-21 began sometime in early 2020. The procedure for selection for admissions began with the NEET Post Graduate Test/Common Eligibility Test, which was held in January, 2020. The schedule/calendar for filling of the PG seats was made available online and also published in leading newspapers. Contemporaneously, a meeting of the PG Counselling board for admissions to MD/MDS course was held by the Chairman, NEET PG Counselling board - 2020 (hereafter "board"). This meeting held on 17.03.2020, was attended by representatives of colleges, including private colleges as well as officials of the State and Union Governments. The minutes, inter alia, recorded as follows: "The following is a brief record of discussions held and decisions taken during the meeting. 1. The notification for NEET PG Medical Dental advertisement was discussed finalized and approved. 2. The instruction booklet was discussed and finalized and on direction it was decided to send it to Hon'ble Advocate General for vetting. 3. The seat matrix and fees structure was obtained from all medical dental colleges. 4. It was decided to send the instruction booklet along with seat matrix and the fee structure information obtained from all the medical dental college to the Government. 5. Seats remaining vacant, if any due to non availability of NRI candidates in second round of counselling will be filled up as per merit and choice of the candidates applying under 15% quota of the college and fees as prescribed by the fee committee of the college. Meeting ended with the vote of thanks." 1. The NEET PG 2020 examination had been held sometime in January, and the results were declared on 31.01.2020. The appellants were registered under the NRI category with the board for allotment of seats in the discipline of MD (Radio-diagnosis) in Rajasthan, sometime in the third week of March 2020. 2. The Instruction Booklet for State Medical and Dental PG Seats Allotments, 2020, which intimated the terms which applied to candidates stated inter alia that: (a) NEET qualified candidates possessing a degree of MBBS/ BDS from colleges situated in the State of Rajasthan, and all medical officers/ medical teachers serving under the Government of Rajasthan are eligible to participate for admissions in 50% of the total seats in private medical colleges; (b) For the remaining 50% of the total seats in private colleges, all NEET qualified candidates possessing an MBBS/ BDS degree from anywhere are eligible to participate; (c) There are 3 types of seats as per the Medical Council of India (MCI) -government seats, management seats, and NRI seats. The responsibility for the type of seats in the seat matrix lie with the concerned institution. 3. The Instruction Booklet further stipulated, inter alia, that the seat matrix would be announced in "due course". The medical and dental colleges which offered admissions, were to delineate the categories of seats as well as the respective fee to be charged in accordance with prevailing laws, regulations etc. Clause 19 of the Instruction Booklet required separate documents to be furnished for NRI candidates in Proforma II and in the form of undertakings. 4. The eligibility for filling NRI seats was spelt out in the following terms: "Eligibility for NRI Seats As per order no. F.5 (968)DME/LC/2018/1997 dated 29.04.2019 of Government of Rajasthan, following will be the guidelines applicable for the admission in Under Graduate/Post Graduate, Medical/Dental courses under NRI quota in all Private and Government institutions of the State: 1. At least one of the parents of students should be an NRI and shall ordinarily be residing abroad as an NRI; or 2. The person who sponsors the student for admission should be a first degree relative of the student (i.e. real Brother/real Sister) and should be ordinarily residing abroad as an NRI; or 3. If student is taken as a ward by some other nearest relative [as mentioned below (i) to (v) such students also may be considered for admission provided the guardian has bonafidely treated the student as a ward. For this following nearest relative (NRI) of candidate, who should be ordinarily residing abroad as an NRI can only be considered: (i Real Brother and sister of father i.e. real uncle and real aunt. (ii) Real brother and sister of mother i.e. real maternal uncle and maternal aunt. (iii) Father and mother of father i.e. grandfather and grandmother. (iv) Father and mother of mother i.e. maternal grandfather and maternal grandmother. (v) First degree-paternal and maternal cousins." ;