Narain Dutt Ojha, J. - (1.) THE petitioner completed her M.B.B.S. course in the month of April, 1981 and secured 54.9% marks. Subsequently she joined internship at Lala Lajpat Hospital, Kanpur affiliated to Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College, Kanpur. She did four months internship from the said hospital and the remaining period of internship was completed by her from Balrampur Hospital, Lucknow. After completing internship she joined house job in July, 1982 and completed one year's house job in July, 1983. Out of this period, six months of the house job was done by petitioner in Gynecology and the remaining six months in surgery in Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi. Then she made an application for registration to the diploma course in Gynecology for Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi Medical College, Kanpur in pursuance of an advertisement which was issued in this regard by the Medical College in the month of April, 1984. The petitioner however was refused admission. Aggrieved she has filed this writ petition with the prayer for directing the respondents to admit the petitioner in diploma course in Gynecology in the year 1984 -85. A counter -affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondents in which it has been stated that admission was refused to the petitioner inasmuch as she had not done housemanship job for one year in Gynecology or for atleast six months each in two allied subjects.
(2.) SINCE all the respondents are represented by the Standing Counsel and counter -affidavit and rejoinder -affidavit have been exchanged and there is no private party to be served with the notice of the writ petition, we are of the opinion that it is a fit case where the writ petition may be decided finally at this very stage as contemplated by the second proviso to Rule 2 of Chapter XXII of the Rules of Court. Having heard the counsel for the petitioner and the standing counsel appearing for the respondents we are of the opinion that the prayer aforesaid contained in the writ petition deserves to be allowed. Reliance in support of their refusal to admit the petitioner in diploma course as aforesaid has been placed by the standing counsel on behalf of the respondents on the Recommendations on Post Graduate Medical Education made by Medical Council of India. These recommendations have been approved as regulations under Section 33 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 by the Government of India and have been published in 1982 as revised upto March 1982. Reference has been made by the standing counsel to criteria for the selection of the candidates at page 11 of the publication. At page 11 of the aforesaid publication are to be found the criteria for the selection of the candidates. They lead as follows: - - Criteria for the selection of candidates: (a) Students for post -graduate training should be selected strictly on merit judged on the basis of academic record in the undergraduate course. All selection for post -graduate studies should be conducted by the Universities. (b) The candidates should have obtained full registration i.e., they must have completed satisfactorily one year of compulsory rotating internship after passing the final M.B.B.S. examination and must have full registration with State Medical Council. (c) They must subsequently have done one year's housemanship prior to admission to the post -graduate degree or diploma course. Housemanship should preferably be for one year in the same subject or atleast six months in the same department and the remaining six months in an allied department. Provided that in departments like Radiology; Anesthesiology/Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation where suitable candidates who have done housemanship in the respective subject for the respective specialty are not available then the housemanship in Medicine and/or in Surgery may be considered as sufficient. Work done by the District Epidemiologists in the P. Falciparum containment programme (P.F.C.P.) for a period of one year may be considered at par with the requirements of house jobs required for admission to postgraduate course in Social and Preventive Medicine. Alternatively (i) Must have worked as a full -time post -graduate student in a manner equivalent to housemanship requirements, in the department concerned before taking up the post -graduate courses. (ii) or worked in State Medical Services, Armed Forces Medical Services or other equivalent services of public undertakings, local bodies, etc. for a period of three years after full registration provided that one year of these three years is spent in a hospital which is compulsory rotating internship or in a command hospital, failing which the aforesaid period of three years would be increased to five years. Provided that in case of service in Armed Forces, this period shall be in addition to one year of compulsory rotating internship required for purposes of obtaining the M.B.B.S. degree and full registration. (d) Other conditions being equal, weightage may be given to persons who have worked in rural areas or the Armed Forces Medical Services for atleast two years. Similarly at page 18 of the publication under the heading 'DIPLOMAS' are to be found criteria for the selection of candidates for the diploma course. They read as follows: Criteria for the selection of Candidates: (a) Students for Post -graduate diploma courses should be selected purely on merit judged by the academic record in the undergraduate course. (b) The candidates should have obtained full registration i.e., they must have completed satisfactorily one year of compulsory rotating internship after passing the final M.B.B.S. examination and must have registered with the State Medical Council. (c) They must subsequently have done one year's housemanship or as alternative thereof worked in any of the three capacities described earlier. Clause (c) at page 11 of the publication inter alia requires that the candidates must subsequently "have done one year's housemanship prior to admission to the post -graduate degree or diploma courses. Housemanship should preferably be for one year in the same subject or atleast six months in the same department and the remaining six months in an allied department." It is true that clause (c) refers to admission to post -graduate degree or diploma course. It is however, significant to note that on page 11 of the publication admission to the diploma course has been separately and specifically dealt with under the heading 'DIPLOMAS' and sub -heading 'Criteria for the selection of Candidates'. Clause (c) under this sub -heading contemplates that the candidates must subsequently have done one year's housemanship or as alternative thereof worked in any of the three capacities described earlier. The three capacities described earlier are to be found in sub -clause (ii) at page 11 of the publication under the heading 'Alternatively'. We are not concerned in the instant case with those alternatives. On the face of it a clear distinction is to be found in the requirement for admission under clause (c) at page 11 which deals with post -graduate degree or diploma course and the corresponding clause (c) at page 14 which deals exclusively with admission to diploma course. The requirement at page 11 that housemanship should preferably be for one year in the same subject or atleast six months in the same department and the remaining six months in the allied department is conspicuous by its absence in clause (c) at page 14 dealing with admission in diploma course. On the principle contained in the maxim Generalia specially bus non -derogant the criteria prescribed exclusively and especially for admission to a diploma course shall prevail over the criteria prescribed generally to admissions to the post -graduate degree or diploma course. As such the requirement that housemanship should preferably be for one year in the same subject or atleast six months in the same department and the remaining six months in an allied department shall in our opinion apply to only admissions to the post -graduate degree course and not to diploma course. The view which we take finds support from a decision of a Division Bench of this Court in Dr. Jolly Jain v. S.N. Medical College, Agra and others, 1982 U.P.L.B.E.C. p. 418. The denial of admission to the petitioner in diploma course in Gynecology, therefore, suffers from a manifest error of law.
(3.) THE Standing Counsel then urged that admission was sought by the petitioner in the session 1984 -85 and since that session has ended on 31 -5 -1985, the writ petition has become infructuous and it is not possible to grant the relief prayed for therein. On the facts of the instant case we find ourselves unable to agree with the submission. We are informed that few seats in diploma course of Gynecology for the year 1984 -85 remained unfilled and vacant. The writ petition was instituted before the expiry of the 1984 -85 session and by an interim order dated 24 -5 -1985 passed by this Court the respondents were required to permit the petitioner to attend the classes of postgraduate diploma course in Gynecology in Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi Medical College, Kanpur, till 31 -7 -1985 subject to any order that may be passed earlier by this Court. There should be no difficulty in permitting the petitioner to continue and complete her course. In Dr. Vinay Rampal v. State of Jammu and Kashmir : A.I.R. 1983 S.C. 1199 also a similar situation had arisen. In that case the petitioner had sought admission in General Medians in M.D. Degree College in the year 1981 in pursuance of an advertisement issued on July 25, 1981. A direction was issued by the Supreme Court on 8 -8 -1983 namely, the date on which the aforesaid case was decided requiring the petitioner to be admitted in the aforesaid subject without any rider of test or selection during the current year which was to commence not later than middle of September, 1983.;