NISHITA MHATRE, J. - (1.) The challenge in both these petitions is to the interim order passed by the West Bengal State Administrative Tribunal in O.A. 221 of 2017. The applicants before the Tribunal are all doctors engaged in the Health care facilities run by the State Government. They wished to pursue their Post Graduate courses under the West Bengal University of Health Sciences. They contended before the Tribunal that since they were eligible, they should be included in the list of candidates who could avail of the mandatory counselling prior to the commencement of the Post Graduate courses. They further contended that their names featured in the said merit list and, therefore, they were entitled to attend the counselling and were entitled to be sponsored by the State.
(2.) The Tribunal, on the basis of the contentions of the parties observed that the applicants, i.e. the respondent nos. 1 to 5 herein in both the writ petitions, should appear for off-line counselling, with the required duly filled in sponsorship form together with the requisite fees and such counselling availed of by the Respondents would have to abide by the decision in the original application.
(3.) Both the West Bengal University of Health Sciences and the State of West Bengal have filed these separate petitions challenging the interim order passed by the Tribunal. The main contention of Mr. Banerjee, the learned counsel appearing for the West Bengal University of Health Sciences, is that the respondent nos. 1 to 5 in both the writ petitions have not qualified in the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test- Post Graduate (NEET-PG)-2017 and, therefore, they are not entitled to be present at the counselling. He submits that the eligibility criteria, inter alia, require a candidate to score 50 percentile and none of the respondents have acquired these qualifications. Relying on the provisions of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and Information Bulletin for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET- PG) for 2017, Mr. Banerjee submits that it is only the Medical Council of India (in short, MCI) which can fix the eligibility criteria for counselling. As the respondent nos. 1 to 5 in both the writ petitions have not achieved that qualifying cut off score, they cannot be accepted for counselling.;