Punjab-Haryana High Court
Yashpreet Bangar & Ors vs State Of Punjab & Ors on 4 September, 2014
Author: K. Kannan
Bench: K. Kannan
CWP No.14572 of 2014 -1-
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATES OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH
CWP No.14572 of 2014
Date of Decision.04.09.2014
Yashpreet Bangar and others ......Petitioners
Versus
State of Punjab and others ......Respondents
Present: Mr. P.K. Ganga, Advocate for
Mr. Ashok Khichi, Advocate
for the petitioners.
Mr. Ranbir Singh Pathania, DAG, Punjab.
Mr. Manish Dadwal, Advocate
for respondent No.2.
Mr. Gurminder Singh, Senior Advocate with
Mr. Yagyadeep, Advocate
for respondent No.3.
CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN
1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the
judgment ?
2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ?
3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest?
-.-
K. KANNAN J. (ORAL)
1. The petitioners seek for a parity of treatment in the manner of filling in the unfilled seats in MBBS in the manner it has been done in BDS courses. In the joint entrance examination for MBBS and BDS, there were different cut off marks. The minimum eligibility for consideration for general candidate was 50%, for physically handicapped it was 45% and for Scheduled Caste and Backward Class it was 40%. Out of 917 seats which were identified as available in various colleges for MBBS only, 666 candidates were identified as eligible for the respective candidates. They have also taken admission therefor. For the PANKAJ KUMAR 2014.09.10 12:24 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh CWP No.14572 of 2014 -2- remaining 251 seats, the counselling is still in progress. The grievance of all the petitioners is that they had belonged to SC category and in the manner that was done to fill up the unfilled seats in BDS Course by conducting special test, the special test must be notified for admission to MBBS to ensure that there is adequate representation in the manner that was envisaged. The scheme for a special test is pursuant to Clause 12 in the notification issued by the Government of Punjab on 07.03.2014 that if there are not adequate number of candidates having minimum prescribed marks in AIPMT 2014 for filling up of MBBS/BDS courses then the University may approach the Government of India for relaxation of the eligibility to Government of Punjab. If such relaxation has come through the concept of a special test for BDS students, the same yardstick must be applied for MBBS students. It is the further contention of the petitioners that if, at all, the special test is not feasible for any reason as per the notification issued by the Medical Council of India on 21.12.2010 and as a subsequent notification issued on 15.02.2012 when a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test was contemplated, the Medical Council of India has itself provided for a similar provision for relaxation of conditions in the following terms:-
"Provided when sufficient number of candidates belonging to respective categories fail to secure minimum marks as prescribed in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test in any academic year for admission to MBBS Course, the Central Government in consultation with Medical Council of India may, at its discretion, lower the minimum marks required for admission to MBBS Course for candidates belonging to respective categories and marks so lowered by the Central Government shall be applicable for the said year only."
2. This, according to the counsel, should be understood as PANKAJ KUMAR 2014.09.10 12:24 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh CWP No.14572 of 2014 -3- making possible a reduction for marks for the SC candidates to allow for filling up of the slots reserved for them as per the percentage of reservation notified by the State.
3. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the University would counter the contentions as regards the special entrance test for BDS as obtaining in a very strange situation which required a different type of treatment. While the total number of seats for MBBS were 917 and 666 seats were already filled up, all that was necessary, was to invoke a provision there in the prospectus allowing for transfer of unfilled reserved seats to a general category. The BDS Course presented a different picture. Out of 1248 seats which are available for filling up, only 144 candidates had satisfied the minimum benchmark who could be considered for admission. There was a huge block of vacant seats more than thousand and the colleges themselves have given a representation that if a special test were to be conducted, it would make possible the filling up of large number of seats in various categories as per the percentage of reservation and for general candidates as was envisaged at the time of admission. The Union Government had also granted approval for the special test and therefore, the manner of relaxation done for BDS had to be dealt with completely differently than how it can be treated for MBBS which do no not require reduction of any benchmark but it allowed for the filling up of vacancies by mere transfer of the unfilled reserved category of seats to the general category and place the same benchmark originally announced for granting admission. The counsel says that 3rd counselling is to take place on 06.09.2014 and it is most likely that no more seats are kept vacant after filling up the PANKAJ KUMAR 2014.09.10 12:24 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh CWP No.14572 of 2014 -4- vacant seats.
4. I would find that MBBS and BDS present distinct scenario and the mere fact that the admission was opened about same time and brought through the same prospectus need not result in the manner of filling up the seats in the same way. Of the two streams of medical courses, it is common knowledge that MBBS sets a higher benchmark for admission while the benchmark kept for BDS is relatively lower. While a fresh entrance test for filling up the larger number of seats was taken after deliberate consideration, I would find no similarity in situation for directing a similar type of special test for filling up the vacancies in MBBS. We have already examined the contention that MBBS seats are likely to be filled up by transfer of the unfilled seats from SC category to the general category and when the two situations are different, same yardstick need not be followed.
5. As regards the issue relating to reduction of benchmark which is referred to by the counsel with reference to the MCI notification, the MCI notification must be understood as making possible a relaxation of the conditions for the various categories, if the seats are not filled up, to be applied across the board to all the categories to provide for filling up the unfilled seats. A selective application of reduction of marks will be grossly discriminatory and it will even tell upon the standards kept for MBBS admission. This point has been squarely raised before the Supreme Court in Preeti Srivastava v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1999 SC 2895 where the issue was whether the admission to SC and BC candidates could be made by lowering the benchmark for admission even less than 40. The argument which was PANKAJ KUMAR 2014.09.10 12:24 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh CWP No.14572 of 2014 -5- placed before the Supreme Court was that it will not have any reduction of standards, for, ultimately after admission, the candidates have to take the same examination and therefore, even the SC candidate who is admitted with lower marks will compete with the general candidates and could obtain a degree only if the minimum pass marks are cleared for all candidates. The Supreme Court rejected this argument and stated that entry level consideration on merit is important and that cannot be diluted in any sense, for, the standards of education across the board must be kept at a minimum and that cannot be diluted by selective reduction of the marks for any reserved category to far below the expected norms. In this case 40% was taken as minimum for SC candidates, when the minimum benchmark for the general category was 50%. It would surely have a serious effect on standards if marks are selectively reduced for SC candidates only and I cannot allow for the relaxation in the manner sought for.
6. I do not find any scope for intervention in favour of the petitioners. The plea taken in the writ petition ought to fail and the writ petition is dismissed.
(K. KANNAN) JUDGE September 04, 2014 Pankaj* PANKAJ KUMAR 2014.09.10 12:24 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Chandigarh