Karnataka High Court
Trupthi V Reddy vs Manjula V on 27 July, 2017
Bench: Jayant Patel, S.Sujatha
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU
DATED THIS THE 27TH DAY OF JULY, 2017
PRESENT:
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JAYANT PATEL
AND
THE HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE S. SUJATHA
C.C.C. Nos.1121 and 1130-1132/2017 [CIVIL]
BETWEEN:
1. Trupthi V. Reddy,
d/o. Dr. Vinodha Reddy K.,
aged 18 years,
r/at No.590, 15th cross,
15th C Main, HSR Layout, Sector-4,
Bengaluru-560 102.
2. Swathi Suyamburajan,
d/o. Rajamani Suyamburajan,
minor,
aged 17 years,
r/at No.59, 31st Main,
Sector-2, HSR Layout,
Bengaluru-560 102,
Rep. by her father and natural
Guardian Rajamani Suyamburajan.
3. Suraj Sai Nikhil Padakanti,
s/o. Sri Venu Madhav Padakanti,
minor, aged 17 years,
r/at No.105, Vars Ferndale Apartment,
1st Main Road, BSNL Exhange,
Kodihalli, HAL 2nd Stage,
Bengaluru-560 008,
Rep. by his father and natural
Guardian Sri Venu Madhav Padakanti.
2
4. Aparna Macharla,
d/o. Govinda Raju Macharla,
aged 18years,
Apartment No.5043,
Sobha Jasmine, Bellandur,
Bengaluru-560 103. ... COMPLAINANTS
[By Sri. Ajoy Kumar Patil, Adv.]
AND
1. Manjula V.,
Principal Secretary to Government of Karnataka,
Department of Higher Education (Medical Education),
M.S. Buildings, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi,
Bengaluru-560 001.
2. Manjunath D.,
Executive Director,
Karnataka Examinations Authority,
Sampige Road,
18th Cross, Malleshwaram,
Bengaluru-560 012. ... ACCUSED
[By Sri. A.S. Ponnanna, AAG. for
Sri. D.Nagaraj, AGA. for A1.
Sri. N.K. Ramesh, Adv. for A2.]
***
These CCCs are filed under Sections 11 and 12 of the
Contempt of Courts Act, praying to order that the accused are
guilty of contempt of willful and intentional disobedience of
the order dated 07.07.2017 passed by this Hon'ble Court in
W.P. Nos.6768-6774/2017, W.P. No.17126/2017 and W.P.
Nos.24649/2017 (W.P. No.23448/2017 and connected cases)
produced at Annexure-"A"
These CCCs coming on for Orders this day, JAYANT
PATEL J., made the following:
3
ORDER
These matters were heard yesterday i.e.., on 26.07.2017 and when this Court after recording its reasoning, had ultimately issued the following directions:
"The basis for the present case under the Contempt of Courts Act is the alleged breach and non-compliance to the Order dated 7.7.2017 passed by this Court in Writ Petition No.23448/2017 and connected matters.
We have heard Mr. Ajoy Kumar Patil, learned Counsel appearing for the Complainants, Mr. A.S. Ponnanna, learned Additional Advocate General appearing for Accused No.1 and Mr. N.K. Ramesh, learned Counsel appearing for Accused No.2.
We may record that this Court in the above referred order at paragraphs-13 and 14 observed and ultimately passed the following order.
"13. In the result, we hold that Overseas Citizens of India cardholders who are NEET UG 2017 qualified shall be entitled to be treated on par with Non-Resident Indians in the matter 4 of admission to I year MBBS/BDS course for the academic year 2017-18. Further, if they are eligible for admission under various categories of seats as per the relevant Acts and/or Rules governing admission to I year medical/dental course in Karnataka for the academic year 2017-18, they shall be considered for admission under all such categories of seats.
14. All Overseas Citizens of India cardholders who are NEET UG 2017 qualified and who have applied for admission to I year MBBS/BDS course to Karnataka Examinations Authority, whether they are petitioners herein or not, shall be entitled to the benefit of this order."
[Emphasis supplied] The aforesaid shows that this Court observed that if they are eligible for admission under the various categories of the seats as per the relevant Act and/or Rules governing admissions to first year Medical/Dental courses in Karnataka for the academic year 2017-18, they shall be considered for admission under all such seats. It has been further observed that all OCI Card holders would be entitled to 5 the benefit of this order whether they are petitioners herein or not.
The aforesaid, prima facie, shows that OCI card holders who have applied for admission are also eligible to be considered under other category than NRI except the Government seats. The only left out category after excluding the Government seats and NRI seats would be Institutional seats which would include private seats in private colleges [KPCF [COMED-K], AMPCK, KRLMPCA] and other seats [KPCF [COMED-K], AMPCK, KRLMPCA].
However, the Government has issued the Notification dated 19.07.2017 after the order passed by this Court which, inter alia, provides as under:
"15% of the total intake in Medical Colleges shall be filled up from students who are NRIs which includes NRIs children or their Wards; OCIs, PIOs and foreigners. These students will not be eligible for admission to any other category of seats."
[Emphasis supplied] 6 The aforesaid disqualification as inserted in the above referred Notification of the Government dated 19.07.2017 so as to treat the students who are holding OCI card as not eligible for admission to any other category of seats, in our prima facie view, not only runs counter to the order of this Court, but it may also result into breach of the direction issued by this Court.
However, Mr. A.S. Ponnanna, learned Additional Advocate General attempted to contend that this Court in the order at paragraph-13 observed for their eligibility as per the relevant Act and/or the Rules governing admission. The Government has entered into Consensual Agreement as per Section 4A of the Karnataka Professional Educational Institutions [Regulations of Admission and Determination of Fee] Act, 2006. As per the said Agreement, this category of students who are OCI are not eligible to be considered on any other seat. In furtherance thereto, he relied upon the Corrigendum issued by the Government under Section 4A of the aforesaid Act which provides for the same clause that these students will not be eligible for admission to any other 7 category of seats and therefore he submitted that if as per the agreement, the students are not eligible to be considered in any other seats, it may be termed as not eligible for admission in any other category as per Section 4A of the Act and therefore there is no breach of the order.
Prima facie, the aforesaid stand cannot be accepted for more than one reason. First is that the order is passed by this Court on 7.7.2017 whereas the so called Corrigendum has been issued by the Government on 17.07.2017 which is in any case later to the order of this Court. The Corrigendum also provides similar language, the relevant of which for ready reference can be reproduced as under:
"These students will not be eligible for admission to any other category of seats"
Such Corrigendum on the part of the Government ex facie runs not only counter to the order of this Court, but in breach of the order of this Court and it may also be termed as overreaching the judicial order of this Court. The second reason is that the so called Consensual Agreement which has been made 8 available to the Court for perusal, entered into by the Government with the Secretary of KPCF through Mr. M.R. Jayaram is dated 14.07.2017 again after the order passed by this Court on 7.7.2017. The third reason is that once this Court had made observations for consideration of the cases of OCI card holders for eligibility on the other category than the Government and NRI, it was neither permissible nor open to the Government to enter into such Agreement which would frustrate the enforcement and implementation of the order of this Court, more particularly, when the order was passed by this Court after hearing the Government and in the said order, the Government was a party.
Apart from the above, it is hardly required to be stated that once the Court has made observation for eligibility, it is not open to the Government and the parties to the proceedings to defy the order or to create a situation frustrating the enforcement of the order, but no other party directly or indirectly has any business to enter into any agreement or to create any bar or obstacle which results into frustrating the enforcement of the judicial order passed by this Court.
9It has been stated that the Counseling process is on. Therefore, we find it appropriate to direct the Accused No.2 to strictly comply with the order of this Court dated 7.7.2017 with the clarification that the students who have applied in capacity as OCI card holders or PIO shall also be considered in accordance with the order for admission on the other category than the Government seats and NRI seats. However, after consideration in the other category which is known as Institutional seats for second and fourth category in the pamphlet, they may also be considered subsequently for NRI seats. The disqualification as mentioned in the Corrigendum dated 17.07.2017 or Notification dated 19.07.2017, that not to treat such students as eligible for admission in any other category, shall not be taken into consideration. If the direction of this Court in the present proceedings are not complied with, it would further aggravate the contempt against the Accused No.2 apart from Accused No.1.
Mr. N.K. Ramesh, learned Counsel appearing for Accused No.2 shall communicate this order to Accused No.2.
10At this stage, learned Additional Advocate General prays that the matter may be taken up on 27.07.2017 to deliberate with the Accused No.1.
Hence, put up on 27.07.2017.
This order is passed today at 12.30 noon. The order shall be supplied to all the Advocates who are appearing for the parties. "
2. It has been stated that the counseling process is going on. Therefore, we find it appropriate to direct accused No.2 strictly comply the Order of this Court dated 07.07.2017 passed in W.P. No.23448/2017 and connected cases with the clarification that;
"It has been stated that the Counseling process is on. Therefore, we find it appropriate to direct the Accused No.2 to strictly comply with the order of this Court dated 7.7.2017 with the clarification that the students who have applied in capacity as OCI card holders or PIO shall also be considered in accordance with the order for admission on the other category than the Government seats and NRI seats. However, after consideration in the other 11 category which is known as Institutional seats for second and fourth category in the pamphlet, they may also be considered subsequently for NRI seats. The disqualification as mentioned in the Corrigendum dated 17.07.2017 or Notification dated 19.07.2017, that not to treat such students as eligible for admission in any other category, shall not be taken into consideration. If the direction of this Court in the present proceedings are not complied with, it would further aggravate the contempt against the Accused No.2 apart from Accused No.1.
Mr. N.K. Ramesh, learned Counsel appearing for Accused No.2 shall communicate this order to Accused No.2.
At this stage, learned Additional Advocate General prays that the matter may be taken up on 27.07.2017 to deliberate with the Accused No.1.
Hence, put up on 27.07.2017.
This order is passed today at 12.30 noon. The order shall be supplied to all the Advocates who are appearing for the parties."12
Accordingly, the matters were taken up today. On behalf of accused No.1, a memo is tendered. A revised schedule is also published and produced together with the said memo. In the memo, it has been stated as under:
"That pursuant to the discussions held in the meeting dated 26.07.2017, chaired by the Hon'ble Minister for Medical Education, in the presence of the Additional Chief Secretary, Medical Education, it was decided that the OCI, PIO card holder students who have applied for Medical seats in Karnataka and have requisite eligibility will be considered for allotment of seats in all categories other than Government seats and Government quota seats. A communication in this regard addressed by the Additional Chief Secretary dated 26.07.2017 is annexed along with this Memo as Document No.1. The revised Schedule of the Counseling in view of this development is produced as Document No.2 along with this Memo. However, this action is being undertaken without prejudice to the right of the State to challenge the judgment of the Court in W.P. No.23448/2012 and connected cases dated 07.07.2017, before the Hon'ble Supreme Court.13
WHEREFORE, it is prayed that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to take this Memo on record and close the Contempt Proceedings, with liberty to the State to challenge the judgment of this Hon'ble Court dated 07.07.2017 in W.P. No.23448/2017 and connected cases, in the interest of Justice."
3. The learned Addl. Advocate General Mr. Ponnanna has declared that the contempt proceedings may be closed without prejudice to the rights of the State Government to challenge the legality and validity of the Order of this Hon'ble Court dated 07.07.2017 passed in W.P. No.23448/2017 and connected matters before the Hon'ble Apex Court. It was stated that in view of the aforesaid declaration mentioned in the memo, the notification dated 19.07.2017 so far as it relates to "15% of the total intake in Medical colleges shall be filled up from students who are NRIs which includes NRI's Children or their Wards; OCIs, PIOs and Foreigners. These students will not be eligible for admission to any other category of seats" as well as the corrigendum dated 17.07.2017, providing that such students belonging to OCI 14 and PIO will not be eligible for admission to any other category of seats, would no more survive.
The learned Addl. Advocate General for the accused/State Government submits that in view of the aforesaid declaration under the memo, the unconditional apology may be accepted since an attempt is made to comply with the order of this Court.
It appears to us that the grievance raised for contempt would no more remain, hence, no further order would be required to be passed in the present proceedings. But, with the observation that the declaration made before this Court shall be strictly complied with.
The aforesaid order shall be without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the accused or State Government to carry the matter before the Hon'ble Apex Court. As observed earlier, in the event any order is passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court, the rights and contentions of the parties shall stand governed accordingly.
The proceedings are disposed of.
15Liberty is granted to the complainant to revive the proceedings in the event of any of the declaration made before this Court is not complied with.
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JUDGE.
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JUDGE.
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