AARUPADAIVEEDU MEDICAL COLLEGE Vs. PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the above writ petition seeking for a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the records comprised in the proceedings of the respondent dated 7-6-2001 in PU/AS I/ Acs.8/2001/10/97/521 and quash the same and consequently direct the respondent to grant affiliation for the petitioner Medical College from the academic year 2000-2001 in the light of the permission granted by the Central Government and in the light of admission of students by the Centralised agency of the Government of Pondicherry for the academic year 2000-2001 to enable the students of the petitioner institution to continue and complete the course by undertaking all examinations.

(2.) The matrix of case culled out from the affidavit are that the petitioner is a medical college which was established in the Union Territory of Pondicherry after obtaining permission from the Government of India under Section 10 (A) of the Indian Medical Council Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) from the academic year 2000-2001. The petitioner has approached the Government of Pondicherry for grant of essentiality certificate/ No Objection Certificate which was also given by the Government of Pondicherry vide its communication dated 28-5-1999 for the academic year 1999-2000. The respondent/University also granted No Objection Certificate by its proceedings dated 4-11-1999. The Central Government after considering the application of the petitioner and after due inspection issued a letter of intent by its proceedings dated 17-11-2000 to the petitioner's college with an annual intake of 100 students with effect from the academic year 2000-2001 under Section 10 (A) of the Act. The said letter was issued to the petitioner subject to compliance of certain conditions. In the meantime, the academic year 2000-2001 was started and the petitioner was corresponding with the respondent/University and the State of Pondicherry. The Pondicherry Government sent a letter dated 16-3-2001 in reply to the petitioner's request for allotment of students by the State Government out of the merit list based on the medical entrance test 2000 for the 1st year M.B.B.S.Course with effect from the academic year 2000-2001. The Central Government also by its communication dated 11-5-2001 granted permission to the petitioner under Section 10(A) of the Act for starting the medical college with effect from the academic year 2000-2001 which is valid for a period of one year and it has to be renewed on yearly basis based on the verification of the achievement of annual target set out in the project report. The Petitioner's College was also directed not to admit more than one batch of students and directed to apply to the Medical Council of India for renewal of permission before commencement of the next academic session. In short, the next batch of students could not be admitted unless the renewal of permission was granted by the Central Government. The copy of the said letter dated 11-05-2000 was also marked to the Pondicherry State Government as well as the respondent/University pointing out that Central Government had expressly permitted the petitioner to admit the students for the academic year 2000-2001. On receipt of permission from the Central Government, the petitioner requested the State Government to admit students in the 1st year M.B.B.S. Course for the year 2000-2001 in compliance with the permission granted by the Central Government. The petitioner has also made similar request to the respondent/University for grant of affiliation by their application dated 14-5-2001. The State Government by its communication dated 15-5-2001 requested the petitioner to inform whether the Management had applied for affiliation for the 1st year M.B.B.S.Course and if so directed to send the copy of the application and the letter of affiliation of the University. The Government of Pondicherry through its Centralised Admission Committee published notification in the newspapers informing that the list of candidates who are provisionally selected for admission would be displayed in the notice board at the Pondicherry Engineering College. Further, the selected candidates were directed to report at the office of the petitioner's Medical College on 4-6-2001. The State Government has also sent a letter dated 2-6-2001 to the petitioner enclosing the list of candidates who are provisionally selected. In and by the said letter, the Government of Pondicherry forwarded a list of 35 candidates instead of 25 candidates under payment category since 10 candidates admitted in the free seat category were in the rolls of Vinayaga Medical College under payment category and their seats at Vinayaga Medical College, Karaikkal would be converted into free seats as an internal adjustment. The petitioner was also required to collect Rs. 3000/- as counselling fee from the candidates. The said list of candidates reported was also sent to the University. In spite of the Central Government permission and also the State Governments having proceeded to admit the students, the respondent/University sent the impugned communication dated 7-6-2001 thereby informed the petitioner that the provisional affiliation for the academic year 2000-2001 was not feasible, hence this writ petition.

(3.) Mr. Mohan Parasaran, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner argued that the impugned order refusing to grant affiliation for the academic year 2000- 2001 and the reasons assigned by the respondent/University are illegal, arbitrary, unreasonable and contrary to the procedures and instructions given by the Government of India; that the State Government has granted essentiality certificate to the petitioner's college as early as on 25-5-1999 for starting medical college from the academic year 1999-2000 which was followed by the respondent's consent of affiliation for the academic year 1999-2000 which was granted after consideration of various factors including the suitability and feasibility etc. The learned senior counsel brought to the notice of this Court that pursuant to the letter of intent dated 17-11-2000 granted by the Government of India, the petitioner had started the college from the academic year 2000-2001, later final approval was also granted by the Central Government on 11-5-2001. Based on the said permission of the Central Government, the Government of Pondicherry allotted candidates, however subject to affiliation granted by the Pondicherry University. The learned senior counsel further argued that contrary to the permission granted by the Central Government and after admission of students by the Government of Pondicherry, the respondent/ University by just ignoring the earlier precedent refused to grant affiliation on the sole ground that the academic year 2000-2001 is nearing the end and the students could not satisfy the requisite days of attendance. The learned senior counsel also argued that in number of cases affiliation has been granted after the commencement of the academic year or at the fag end of the academic year. In this case the State Government has recognised and acted in harmony with the Central Government's permission to admit the students, while so it is not fair on the part of the respondent to refuse affiliation for the academic year 2000-2001. The learned Senior counsel has also drawn the attention of this Court that Central Government has also proposed to renew the permission for the academic year 2001-2002 for the second batch and as such the impugned order would only result in serious consequences in as much as the petitioner cannot move the application for grant of renewal of permission for the academic year 2000-2001; that in one case the affiliation was granted by Universities with retrospective effect on the approval granted by the Dental Council of India. One other invalid reason for passing the impugned order was that the students already admitted for the academic year 2000-2001 could not satisfy the requisite attendance. So long as the students undergo and complete the minimum required teaching and training they will be entitled to undergo examinations as per the guidelines issued by the Government of India and Medical Council of India and as such the same cannot be sustained for non-grant of affiliation by the respondent. The University is bound to grant affiliation based on the approval granted by the Central Government, the students are fully equipped to appear for the examination and by virtue of rejection of the application, the students are prevented from appearing at the examination.