- (1.) Whether the notification dated 5.1.2001 issued by the State of Punjab providing for admission of students to the Post Graduate Medical Courses with less than 50 per cent marks in the entrance examination is contrary to the Regulations trained by the Medical Council of India and whether the said notification prescribing for reservation for admission to the aforesaid courses is legal are the two meaningful questions which arise for our consideration in this bunch of writ petitions. Since the main arguments were addressed in civil writ petition No. 698 of 2001 the facts are being taken from this case.
(2.) Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana (hereinafter referred to as the College) is the petitioner before us. It conducts under Graduate and Post Graduate courses in Medicine. The under Graduate courses conclude in December each year and the Post Graduate Medical Courses commence in January of the following year. Admissions to these courses are made on the basis of merit obtained by the candidates in the entrance test conducted by the Slate of Punjab in accordance with the scheme framed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Unni Krishnan, J.P. and others v. State of Andhra Pradesh and others The Post Graduate courses were to commence from January 2001. The State of Punjab did not notify the schedule for holding the entrance examination and, therefore, the petitioner approached this Court by filing civil writ petition No. 17088 of 2000 seeking issuance of a mandamus to the State for conducting the Post Graduate Entrance Test (for short PGET). On receipt of notice in that writ petition, the learned Deputy Advocate General gave an assurance that the Punjab Government would be holding the entrance test some time in January, 2001. On this statement being made by him, the writ petition became infrustuous and the same was accordingly disposed of as such. The State of Punjab then issued a notification on 5.1.2001 regulating admissions of students to the Three Years Post Graduate Degree Courses for the session 2001 in Government Medical Colleges, Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot, Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, Government Dental Colleges, Amritsar and Patiala and Government Ayurvedic College, Patiala. It was provided therein that admissions would be made by holding a PGET. Clause (3) of the notification provides for distribution of seats. Out of the total seats, 25 per cent were to be filled up on All India basis through on All India competitive entrance test to be conducted by the Government of India. Of the remaining seats to be filled on the basis of PGET. 60 per cent seals were to be filled up from amongst the eligible PCMS/PCMS (Dental)/PDES in-service doctors and 40 per cent seats were open to alt eligible Medical/Dental Graduates who were residents of Punjab. The relevant clause in the notification reads as under :- "(ii) For 40 per cents (open to all eligible Punjab residents) Medical/Dental Graduates who are residents of Pun- jab will be eligible irrespective of the College from where he/she graduated. Any candidate holding employment shall have to produce a 'no objection certificate' from his/her employer. Note: 1. The seats left vacant from All India quota and surrendered by the D.G.H.S., New Delhi shall be filled strictly on merit from the combined merit list. Note : 2. After exhausting all the eligible candidates under 60 per cent quota, the vacant seats due to non-availability of eligible candidates, if any, shall be offered to the eligible candidates under 40 per cent quota and vice-versa. Note: 3. All seats in Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana shall be filled up by the merit of PGET under similar criteria as for 40 per cent seats in Government Colleges except that State reservation shall not be compulsory for them. However, constitutional reservation, if any, will be mandatory for them. Clause (5) of the notification provides for determination of merit and eligibility for admission to the Post Graduate courses. The relevant part of this clause with which we are concerned is reproduced hereunder for facility of reference : "5. Determination of merit & eligibility for admission. 1. In case of Medical/Dental Colleges. (a) The merit of the candidates will be determined by the University by holding the Post Graduate Entrance Test of eligible candidates for admission to three years degree courses for the session 2001. (b) There will be separate merit list for in-service 60 per cent quota candidates for Government Medical/Dental Colleges and a separate merit list for the remaining who are not covered under in-service category candidates. The merit list for open and reserve candidates will be combined and reserve candidates will be eligible for open seats also as per their merit. (c) Interview is compulsory for all candidates applying for the Post Graduate admission. No separate interview letters will be issued. (d) Candidates securing at least 40 per cent marks in the competitive examination will be eligible for admission except for admission to the basic subjects viz. Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology, Forensic Medicine and Social and Preventive Medicine where there will be no condition of minimum marks. Interview for M.D./M.S./M.D.S. courses will be held in the office of Vice-Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Science, Faridkot. (e) ....." (Underlining is ours)
(3.) The reservations for admission to the Post Gradu- ate courses have been provided for in clause 8 of the notification which is reproduced hereunder: "8. Reservation The reservation for various categories in Post Graduate admission in Government Colleges will be as under: a. Schedule Castes/ Tribes 25% b. Backward Classes 5% c. Physically handicapped 3% d. Physically handicapped i. Blindness or low vision 1% ii. Hearing impairment 1% iii. Orthopaedically handicap 1% d. Sports persons (credit will be given for the sports achievements made during MBBS/BDS academic couses only and shall be graded by the Direcior. Sports, Punjab) 2% e. Riot Affected/Displaced persons and wards of persons killed in terrorist action in Punjab. 2% However, in case of Dayanand Medical College, only a, b and c shall be applicable. If candidates in one sub-category above of category (c) are not available the seat will go to other sub-category under (c). The candidates under (c) shall be admitted only if they are otherwise found fit medically to pursue the course in the speciality concerned. NOTE: A candidate applying for admission against the seats reserved under category (a) shall be considered provided he/she produces a certificate in the prescribed form signed by any of the following authorities......" It is the aforesaid notification which is now under challenge before us in this bunch of writ petitions. The contention is that the notification insofar as it makes candidates securing 40 per cent marks in the competive examination eligible for admission offends against the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000 (for short the Regulations) which prescribe a minimum of 50 per cent marks in the entrance examination as the eligibility for admission for all candidates and cannot, therefore, be sustained. Another grievance of the petitioner is that not only the minimum percentage of marks for eligibility for admission to the Post Graduate Medical courses has been lowered but in the case of basic subjects like Antomy, Physiology, Bio-chemistry, Pharmacology, Pathology, Microbiology, Forensic Medicine and Social and Preventive Medicine, there is no condition of minimum marks for admission. This, according to the petitioner, is impermissible and contravenes the Regulations and the law laid down by the Apex Court. The notification is also challenged on the ground that even though the College has not prescribed reservation of any kind for admission of students to the courses run by it, the State Government has prescribed reservation requiring it to reserve 25 per cent seats for Scheduled Castes/Tribes, another 5 per cent for Backward Class candidates and 3 per cent for physically handicapped students. The argument of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the State Government was not competent to prescribe any such reservations for the College and he went oh the contend that the reservation in the Post Graduate courses in Medical Education could not at all be prescribed and, therefore, according to the petitioner, the notification is null and void.;