- (1.) This order shall dispose of LPA Nos. 1826 and 1846 of 2011, filed under Clause 10 of the Letters Patent Appeal, challenging the judgment dated 16.9.2011 rendered by the learned Single Judge declaring Clause 11(a) of the Prospectus (P-4), issued by the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana (Appellant College) as ultra vires of Article 14 of the Constitution. This clause requires a candidate to obtain sponsorship letter as a pre-condition if he desired to take admission in the MBBS and BDS courses in the Appellant College. The Appellant College has been directed to pass appropriate orders rectifying the rejection of candidature of the petitioner-respondent No. 1 to the MBBS course, within a week.
(2.) The Appellant College is a minority institution protected by Article 30(1) of the Constitution. Thus, it is entitled to set up educational institutions and manage its affairs without interference by the State. The appellant- College has freedom to prescribe the mode and manner of admission. For admission to various courses such as MBBS, BDS, B.Sc. Nursing and Bachelor of Physiotherapy, the appellant-College issued a Prospectus for UG Programs-2011 (P-4) wherein the seats of various courses have been divided broadly into two categories i.e. Open Category and Christian (Minority Category). In the prospectus under the main heading of "Admission Programme", there is a sub- heading 'Christian (Minority Category) Applicants & Service Agreement', which reads thus: "Christian (Minority Category) Applicants & Service Agreement Candidates who desire to apply under the Christian sponsored category should indicate in the ICR form and will have to take a Bible Test. Such candidates are required to be sponsored by one of the sponsoring agencies of the Christian Medical College Ludhiana society for eligibility in the sponsored category. Candidates can apply to one of the sponsoring agencies of the Christian Medical College Ludhiana Society for sponsorship. List of members is given in the Annexure III. Toward this, all MBBS, BDS, and B.Sc. Nursing candidates selected through UG AWT 2011 in this category are required to enter into a service agreement without which admission will not be granted. Service Agreement for MBBS and B.Sc. Nursing candidates is for a minimum period of two years and for BDS candidates, 1 year, after completion of the course in a hospital, or institution managed by Christian Medical College Ludhiana Society or its member Body/Church In keeping with the mandate of the Christian Medical College Ludhiana Society to reach out to all states with emphasis on the rural under- served and unreached areas/communities of our nation, to provide training facilities to candidates who will dedicate themselves to the health-care of these states they represent, which would otherwise have been deprived, seats in MBBS have been earmarked area-wise for Society Sponsored candidates from States and Union territories (Pg.10). Candidates applying to these categories should clearly indicate this in the ICR form by correctly filling the domicile field. Admission will be entirely on merit, based on the Admission Written Test. Candidates must provide the certificates mentioned below to be considered for admission in Sponsored Christian (Minority) category. The following original certificates must be available at the time of scrutiny of certificates otherwise the candidature will be cancelled. 1) Sponsorship Letter from sponsoring body/church signed by authorised signatory only. 2) Baptism certificate 3) Letter from the Pastor regarding church membership with dates (made after 28.02.2011 in the prescribed format See Annexure -1 Sample-12) 4) Domicile certificate issued and certified by the competent authority. Note: 1. Christian candidates desirous of sponsorship should only apply to one sponsoring body/church. In the event that a candidate has obtained more than one sponsorship, the first one to reach the office of Registrar will be considered. 2. It is mandatory for all Christian applicants to pass the Bible Test for considering them under the Christian Minority categories. Christian applicants who fail in the Bible Test, will not be considered under the Christian Minority category."
(3.) It is, thus, evident that for a candidate desirous to apply for the seats reserved for the Christian (Minority Category), the foremost requirement was to have a Bible Test and such candidates were further required to be sponsored by one of the sponsoring agencies of the Christian Medical College Ludhiana Society for eligibility in the sponsored category. It is further clear that all candidates irrespective of their course applying under the Christian (Minority Category) were also required to enter into a service agreement for different duration without which admission would not be granted. For the MBBS course the minimum period of service agreement has been fixed as two years. The next thing which is discernible is that the admission were to be granted "entirely on merit, based on the Admission Written Test". It seems that the provision for production of original certificates concerning sponsorship letters, Baptism certificate and letter from the Pastor regarding Church membership has been made in order to ascertain the genuiness of a candidate whether he is a bonafide Christian and belongs to the category of Christian Minority.;