Punjab-Haryana High Court
Dr.Jagtar Singh vs Maharshi Dayanand University on 6 December, 2012
Author: Ranjit Singh
Bench: Ranjit Singh
Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :1:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
DATE OF DECISION: December 06, 2012
Dr.Jagtar Singh
.....Petitioner
VERSUS
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak & another
....Respondents
CORAM:- HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH
1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgement?
2. To be referred to the Reporters or not?
3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?
PRESENT: Mr.H.S.Sethi, Advocate,
for the petitioner.
Mr.Anurag Goyal, Advocate,
for the respondents.
****
RANJIT SINGH, J.
Can M.B.B.S. degree of a doctor be cancelled after long lapse of time on the ground that he had got admission to the course as a reserved category, to which he does not belong. This, significant issue is raised in the present writ petition.
The field is not entirely uncovered as there are some precedents which will throw some light on the issue arising in the present petition.
The MBBS degree course of the petitioner which he Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :2: commenced in the year 1984 and completed in 1991 for award of MBBS decree has been cancelled in the year 2012 on the ground that the petitioner had wrongly obtained admission in the category of scheduled caste, whereas he does not come from the said caste. Against this action, the petitioner has approached this Court, pleading that it is not fair and equitable to do so now at this stage. The question, therefore, to see is if it would be fair and equitable to cancel this M.B.B.S. degree of the petitioner, which he acquired after studying the course and qualifying there at. The petitioner has continued to practice as a doctor for nearly 21 years since then.
The petitioner belongs to a `Magh Community' and appeared for entrance examination to MBBS Course in the year 1984 having passed his B.Sc second year Examination. The petitioner states that he was misled by the instructions issued by the Government of Punjab giving list of Scheduled Caste in the State. Reference is made to instructions dated 2.6.1951, where list of Scheduled Castes in the State of Punjab is given. One of the caste mentioned at Scheduled Caste is `Megh'. The petitioner states that being genuinely under the impression that his caste `Magh' is covered in this category of list of Scheduled Castes, i.e., Megh, he had applied for issuance of a certificate to SDO(Civil), Thanesar claiming that he belongs to a Scheduled Caste Category. Tehsildar after due verification issued the Scheduled Caste Certificate on 26.5.1984 to the petitioner that he belongs to Megh Caste which is a scheduled caste. On this basis, the petitioner got admission in the MBBS Course at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak being from Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :3: a reserved category of scheduled caste.
In 1991, the petitioner completed his MBBS Course. He secured 964 marks out of 1800 and, thus, passed the MBBS examination. On 25.3.1994, the petitioner was employed in Haryana Civil medical Services as Medical Officer after being duly selected by Haryana Public Service Commission in the general category and not in the reserved category of scheduled caste. The petitioner accordingly joined Haryana Civil Medical Services.
While serving as a Doctor, the petitioner applied for admission to Postgraduate, i.e. M.D. In Psychitary. He was again admitted in the general category and did not take any advantage of being from reserved category. On 15.7.2004, the petitioner passed M.D.(Psychitary).Matter rested at that.
The petitioner's troubled commenced much later due to some matrimonial dispute of family of his wife. Wife of his brother-in- law (Wife's brother) made a complaint against family members of his wife and dragged the petitioner and other members of his wife's family in a criminal case. FIR was also registered against the petitioner, his wife and his brother-in-law. The police, however, found the petitioner innocent after due investigation. The other persons named in the FIR were also acquitted by the court of competent jurisdiction. In one of the complaint, the complainant-wife of his brother-in-law wrote to Maharishi Dayanand University that the petitioner had submitted a fake scheduled caste certificate to get admission into the MBBS course. She filed similar complaint to the State of Haryana.
Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :4:
On receipt of complaint, the Deputy Commissioner, Kurukshetra passed an order seeking verification and it, thus, revealed that `Magh' which is the caste of the petitioner is not a scheduled caste and thus, the scheduled caste certificate obtained by the petitioner be cancelled. The said order was forwarded to Registrar, Maharishi Dayanand University as well. `Megh' ofcourse is a scheduled caste in the State of Haryana as well.
On receipt of the complaint, a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner by the University on 6.2.2012 asking him to respond as to why the admission granted to him on the basis of this fake scheduled caste certificate and the MD degree be not withdrawn. The petitioner filed a reply to this show cause notice mentioning therein that he had passed the MBBS course long ago and merely on the basis of cancellation of his scheduled caste certificate, his MBBS degree/admission cannot now be withdrawn or cancelled at this stage. The petitioner claims to have met the Registrar of the University and supplied him copies of some judgments passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court as per which, in somewhat similar circumstances, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that degree obtained by candidates in such like circumstances could not be withdrawn or cancelled. The petitioner accordingly pleaded that his case be also decided in the light of those precedents which he left with the Registrar.
Respondent-University, however, has passed the impugned order on 9.8.2012 and has quashed the result of MBBS examination of the petitioner. The ground ofcourse is that the Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :5: petitioner has submitted a fake scheduled caste certificate. The result of the MD (Psychitary) Course declared on 15.7.2004 has also been set-aside on the same ground. The notification in this regard has been sent to the respondent-Chief Medical Officer. Apprehending that now the State would take action to remove the petitioner from service which action is yet to commence, the petitioner has filed the present petition to challenge the impugned order cancelling his result of MBBS and MD Courses.
In response to notice of motion, respondent-University has filed written statement. It is pointed out that the petitioner belongs to Magh (Rajput) community and such a person possibly and practically cannot have any doubt about the fact that he does not know his caste or that he did not belong to scheduled caste. It is alleged that the petitioner has taken advantage of similarity in the words `Magh and Megh' by applying to the SDO(Civil) Thanesar for issuing scheduled caste certificate by describing himself as Megh. After due verification of the same by Tehsildar, the petitioner was issued caste certificate mentioning that he belongs to Megh Caste. In fact, he belongs to Magh community and by depicting himself as Megh he got false, fabricated and bogus scheduled caste certificate. On the basis of a complaint, a meeting under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner was held and it was recommended that all the benefits taken by the candidate should be withdrawn. A criminal case should be registered against the petitioner and that action should be taken against the Tehsildar, who had given this report on the application of a candidate and the petitioner be informed about this Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :6: action.
Undoubtedly, the petitioner cannot absolve himself of the allegation that he has misled the authorities in getting this scheduled caste certificate issued in his favour. The innocence pleaded by the petitioner is fake. He was well aware of his caste being Magh and statedly had shown himself as Megh to obtain this benefit and admission to MBBS Course in the category of scheduled caste. The counsel was candid enough to concede this during the course of arguments. He further conceded that but for being a scheduled caste, the petitioner may not have been admitted to the MBBS Course. The petitioner at least could be expected to fair at this stage as he primarily is seeking relief in equity by pleading that at this stage it would not be fair or equitable to cancel his admission and the degree which he had obtained after attaining qualification and study of the course. The entry of the petitioner certainly was illegal and unauthorised, but indeed he had completed his study and qualified the course not only of MBBS but MD (Psychitary) as well.
The petitioner was admitted to M.B.B.S. Course about 28 years ago and he passed the course nearly 21 years ago. He had competed and is in the service of Haryana Medical Service. The knowledge he gained and obtained after admission apparently is not fake. His admission of course is illegal and unauthorised and obtained by playing fraud on the system. Law may not stand to favour such a person, who has got admission by playing fraud with the system and, thus, obtained admission for which he was not legally entitled, but equity may to an extent stand to support his Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :7: cause because he has genuinely studied and completed the course. The petitioner has qualified after putting in this study and since then a considerable time has elapsed during which the petitioner has continued to perform the duties of a Medical Officer.
As already noticed, this field is not totally uncovered and one is able to locate some precedents. The general principle which seems to have been followed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court is that where a person secures an appointment on the basis of a false caste certificate, he cannot be allowed to retain benefits of wrong committed by him and his services are liable to be terminated. However, the cases of persons who got admission in the professional courses, like Engineering and MBBS and who had successfully completed such courses have been differently viewed. It is observed that such courses are completed after prescribed period of study and after passing the examination and such cases on these special facts may be considered on a different footing. The reasons which have weighed in this regard are that a huge amount of public money is spent in imparting education in a professional colleges and the student also acquires a necessary skill in the subjects which he has studied. Such skills so acquired can be gainfully utilised by the society. Accordingly, the professional degree obtained by such students, who have been admitted on the basis of wrong certificates, have generally been protected.
No strict rule still can be laid down in this regard. A case may be differently viewed, where falsehood of a caste certificate is detected during the course of study or soon thereafter. Such cases Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :8: may not be protected and such fraud in seeking admission in professional courses may be curbed as being not acceptable. Admission in such cases would be liable to be cancelled. The cases of those persons, who have completed the course long ago and had passed all the examination and acquired degrees may deserve a different treatment and in such cases a limited relief of protecting a professional degree so obtained may be called for.
The leading light in the field would flow from State of Maharashtra Versus Milind and others, (2001) 1 SCC 4=AIR 2001 S.C. 393, which is a decision by constitutional bench. Though the Hon'ble Supreme Court in this case was dealing with the question whether it is permissible to hold enquiry, allowing any evidence to decide and declare that any tribe or tribal community or part or group within any tribe or tribal community is included in the general name even though it is not specifically mentioned in the concerned Entry in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 and whether 'Halba- Koshti' caste is a sub-tribe within the meaning of Entry 19 (Halba/Halbi) of the said Scheduled Tribes Order relating to State of Maharashtra, even though it is not specifically mentioned as such, but the court has also made some observations about the admission to medical course which was allowed 15 years ago and where the person was practicing as a doctor may not require a cancellation at belated stage. The relevant observations in this regard are as under:-
"Respondent No.1 joined the medical course for the year 1985-86. Almost 15 years have passed by now. We are told he has already completed the course and may be he Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 :9: is practising as doctor. In this view and at this length of time it is for nobody's benefit to annul his Admission. Huge amount is spent on each candidate for competition of medical course. No doubt, one Scheduled Tribe candidate was deprived of joining medical course by the admission given to respondent No.1. If any action is taken against respondent No.1, it may lead depriving the service of a doctor to the society on whom public money has already been spent. In these circumstances, this judgment shall not affect the degree obtained by him and his practising as a doctor. But we make it clear that he cannot claim to belong to the Scheduled Tribe covered by the Scheduled Tribes Order. In other words, he cannot take advantage of the Scheduled Tribes Order any further or for any other constitutional purpose. Having regard to the passage of time, in the given circumstances, including interim orders passed by this Court in SLP(C) No.16372/85 and other related affairs, we make it cl3ear that the admissions and appointments that have become final, shall remain unaffected by this judgment."
In another case titled Addl.General Manager-Human Resource, Bharat Heavy electricals Ltd. Versus Suresh Ramkrishna Burde, (2007) 5 Supreme Court Cases 336, the court has drawn distinction in the cases of person seeking appointment on the basis of fake caste certificate and those who got admission on Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 : 10 : the basis of such fake certificate and the issue is of cancellation of their admissions. The Court in this case has held that the Court in State of Maharashtra Versus Milind (supra) did not lay down any principle that where a person secures an appointment by producing a false certificate his service can be protected and order of reinstatement can be passed if he gave an undertaking that in future he or his family members shall not take any advantage of being member of the said caste which is reserved category. Observation is that it is always open for the court to mould the relief which may appear just and proper and some equitable consideration would come into play while granting relief. Thus, the courts have been drawing distinction where a person has secured appointment on the basis of a false caste certificate and case of admissions which may have been obtained on the basis of a fake or forged caste certificate. The courts generally have not granted relief where the appointment is obtained on the basis of a fake or false certificate, but equitable considerations have weighed with the court in those cases where admissions were obtained on the basis of false or fake caste certificate. This view has been taken primarily on the ground that person after getting admission did study the course and qualified there at. The detection being generally after a long lapse of time, the equitable considerations have come into play and the courts have granted relief against the cancellation of degrees, though obtained in this manner.
R.Vishwanatha Pillai Versus State of Kerala, (2004) 2 SCC 105 is one such case which can be taken as precedent. In this Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 : 11 : case, employee's son got admission in Engineering College against the seat reserved for scheduled caste. Finding that this admission was obtained in the year 1992 and he had completed the course in 1996, the court has held that no purpose would be served in withholding the declaration of the result when the student had appeared in the examination under the interim orders of the Court and no purpose would be achieved in denying him degree in the case he has passed the examination. This order was passed placing reliance on the observations made in the case of State of Maharashtra Versus Milind , which have been reproduced above.
I can assure myself that there are some binding precedents where reliefs in equity and on account of consideration being in public interest have been allowed in such like cases. The petitioner in this case has obtained the MBBS degree in the year 1991. The admission on the basis of a false certificate was taken in the year 1984. Thereafter, the petitioner has passed the MBBS degree and has even obtained a Postgraduation MD degree in Psychitary. To train the petitioner as a qualified doctor and thereafter as an expert in Psychiatry a considerable amount of public money has certainly been spent. The cancellation of his degree, as is ordered, would only lead to waste of this money spent to train the petitioner as doctor. Even otherwise, respondents have woken up too late and have racked up an issue after 28 years of the alleged incident of fake admission. For all these years, the petitioner has worked as a doctor and to an extent may have served the humanity. Ofcourse there is no evidence on record about the nature of his Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 : 12 : service rendered to humanity he being a doctor, but it can be assumed that he has, to an extent, rendered service to the public while attending to the patients, who came before him for treatment.
The other factor which can weigh in this case is that the petitioner had not entered the service by claiming himself to be a scheduled caste and states to have been employed as general category candidate. He further claims to have competed while doing his MD course as a general category candidate. Thus, except for taking advantage of his initial entry into the MBBS course, the petitioner statedly has not obtained any advantage of his fake caste. Taking the totality of circumstances in view and keeping in mind the equitable consideration, I am of the considered view that no useful purpose would be served now to cancel or withdraw the degrees of MBBS and MD (Psychitary) which the petitioner has obtained. The impugned order would call for interference. Considering the fact that the petitioner indeed had obtained the admission on the basis of a fake certificate, he can be penalised by awarding some social punishment for his wrong and illegal act. The petitioner can be called upon to re-compensate the Society, which he has deceived. Such social punishment is called for as the petitioner can not be permitted to walk away with the feeling that his fraudulent act has harmed him in no manner. The petitioner's conduct in getting admission in this manner can not be permitted escape some punitive measure lest it is taken that one can go unscathed even after having played fraud. The petitioner can be saddled with some social punishment and what can be a better way for a doctor to show remorse and repentance than to Civil Writ Petition No.16598 of 2012 : 13 : do some service towards ailing and sick lying in the hospital. A large number of poor patients would be in a need of medicines, which they can not afford and may find it difficult to buy. Let the petitioner provide a sum of `5 lacs which he should deposit with PGIMS, Rohtak, where he got admission on wrong certificate, which can be used for buying medicines for needy and poor patients, who can not afford such medicines. This amount may not be a sufficient solace for poor needy patients, but may serve as reminder to those who choose to violate law.
The counsel for the petitioner, on proper instructions, has readily and willingly agreed to deposit the sum of `5 lacs in two equated instalments within a period of two months from today. The amount as deposited will be used under the orders of Director, PGIMS, Rohtak, for the purpose as noted or for any other purpose for needy ailing people getting treatment and are in need of some help. The petitioner in addition would deposit a sum of `25,000/- as a cost of petition, which is imposed on him as a special cost again aimed at social service for straining the justice delivery system. The costs be deposited in the accounts of Advocates Welfare Fund, Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The writ petition is accordingly disposed of in the above terms.
December 06, 2012 ( RANJIT SINGH ) ramesh JUDGE