Gujarat High Court
Medguj Association Of Guj Medical ... vs Admission Committee For Professional ... on 15 December, 2022
Author: Bhargav D. Karia
Bench: Bhargav D. Karia
C/SCA/25325/2022 ORDER DATED: 15/12/2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 25325 of 2022
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MEDGUJ ASSOCIATION OF GUJ MEDICAL COLLEGES
Versus
ADMISSION COMMITTEE FOR PROFESSIONAL UNDERGRADUATE
MEDICAL COURSES
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Appearance:
UDIT N VYAS(9255) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MS MANISHA SHAH, GOVERNMENT PLEADER for the Respondent -
Admission Committee
MR. KM ANTANI(6547) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA
Date : 15/12/2022
ORAL ORDER
1. Heard learned advocate Mr. Udit Vyas for the petitioner and learned Senior Advocate Ms. Manisha L. Shah with learned advocate Mr. K. M. Antani for the respondent No. 1.
2. By this petition filed by the MEDGUJ Association of the Gujarat Medical Colleges has prayed for the following reliefs.
'[a]That this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to quash the impugned notification to the extent it is having the effect of not treating the seats of the students who have opted for cancellation their admission after completion of the second round of counseling as vacant seats and thereupon, be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus and or any other appropriate writ, order or direction upon Page 1 of 9 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 24 03:26:31 IST 2022 C/SCA/25325/2022 ORDER DATED: 15/12/2022 Respondent No. 1 - Admission Committee to include seats that have fallen vacant after the second round of counseling on account of cancellation of admission by the students in the subsequent rounds of common counseling to be filled in the order of merit.
[b] That pending admission, hearing and final disposal fo the present writ petition, this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to direct Respondent No. 1
- Admission Committee to include seats that have fallen vacant after the second round of counseling on account of cancellation of admission by the students in the subsequent rounds of common counseling to be filled in the order of merit, on such terms and conditions that this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper.
[c] That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to pass such other and further orders as the nature and circumstances of the case may demand.'
3. The petitioner is a not - for - profit company established and incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013. The petitioner was incorporated by several self-financing Medical Colleges of the State of Gujarat for the purpose of promoting and safeguarding their interest.
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4. It is the case of the petitioner that there are many students who have withdrawn their admission after payment of fees either in the first round or the second round of the Medical admission for the academic year 2022-2023 and therefore the seats which have fallen 'vacant' due to the cancellation/ withdrawal of admission by such students should be considered by the respondent - Admission Committee as 'vacant' seats for the mop-up round which is in process.
4.1 Learned advocate Mr. Vyas submitted that the respondent No. 1 - Admission Committee in view of the Supreme Court decision in the case of Subhankar Patnayak V/s K. Ramesh Reddy and Ors in Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 289 of 2022 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 223 of 2022 (Pg-43) dated 22.07.2022 is taking a stand that the students who have canceled/withdrawn their admission either in the first or second round and the seats which have fallen 'vacant' would not be considered to be offered to the students who are not admitted or who are eligible for upgradation in the mop-up round for admission for the medical colleges.
4.2. It was submitted that the Apex Court in the case of Subhankar Pattanayak V/s K. Ramesh Reddy & Ors (Supra) as well as in the order dated 31.03.2022 passed in the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 223 of 2022 did not prohibit the Admission Committee from considering the seats which have become vacant due to cancellation/withdrawal of admission for to be offered to the students who are eligible to participate in the mop-up round.
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5. On the other hand, learned Senior Advocate Ms. Manisha Shah appearing for the Admission Committee submitted that the process of admission is regulated by the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Course (Regulation of Admission in Under Graduate Courses) Rules, 2017 (for short 'Rules, 2017') and as per Rule 15(3)(a) and 15(3)(b) read with Rule 16, the seats which have become vacant due to the cancellation/withdrawal of admission by the students cannot be considered as 'vacant' seats till the entire admission process is over. It was submitted that as per the schedule of admission process for the academic year 2022-2023 for the admission to medical courses, the admission process would be over on 18.12.2022.
5.1 Learned Senior Advocate Ms. Shah under instructions submitted that the Admission Committee shall adhere to the provisions of Rule 16 of the Rules, 2017 and strictly follow the same by considering the 'vacant' seats which have been made available due to either as per Rule 15(3)(a) or 15(3)(b) of the Rules, 2017 for admission and notify such 'vacant' seats to the Medical Institutes and the Medical Institutes shall also be asked to provide the details of such 'vacant' seats and details of the 'vacant' seats as on 18.12.2022 shall be published on the notice board as well as on the website of the Admission Committee and the list of such seats shall be sent to the respective institute along with the list of merit list of the students who are not yet admitted on completion of the admission process by the Admission Committee.
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6. In view of the above submission, it would be germane to refer to the provisions of Rule 15 and 16 of the Rules, 2017 which read as under:-
"15. Cancellation of Admission and Refund of fee:
(1) In case of cancellation of admission or transfer of candidates by the Admission Committee, due to administrative reasons, the College or Institution including university in which the candidate was granted admission shall refund the amount of fee collected by it, to such candidate.
(2) In case of cancellation of admission due to failure of candidate to get himself registered within the specified time limit, the fees collected from such candidate shall be refunded after completion of the admission process or after completion of such period as may be determined by the Admission Committee.
(3) (a) In case of a candidate withdrawing his candidature before completion of admission process of his merit number where he stands, for any reason whatsoever, he may request in writing to the Admission Committee for such withdrawal.
In such case, the fee collected, if any, by the Page 5 of 9 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 24 03:26:31 IST 2022 C/SCA/25325/2022 ORDER DATED: 15/12/2022 Admission Committee shall be refunded to such candidate;
(b) In case of a candidate withdrawing his candidature after completion of entire admission process by admission committee, for any reason whatsoever, he may request in writing to the college or institution in which he is granted admission and cancellation shall be done by the college or institution. In such case the fee shall be refunded, by such college or institution.
16. VACANT SEATS After the completion of the admission process and exhaustion of merit list of the eligible candidates as per admission rules, if government seats and management seats in the "Professional Medical Educational Courses remain vacant or vacancy arise due to any circumstances, such vacant seats shall be filled up from candidates who have applied to the Admission Committee and qualify as per NEET-UG criteria but not included in the merit list of the committee because of not fulfilling the other criteria of Admission Rules. After completion of that process, if any seats are still remain vacant, such vacant seats shall be displayed on the official website and on the notice board of the office of the Admission Committee Page 6 of 9 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 24 03:26:31 IST 2022 C/SCA/25325/2022 ORDER DATED: 15/12/2022 and the same shall be intimated to the colleges or institutions wherein the seats are vacant and the institution shall filled up the seats as per the criteria laid down by the respective council / Central Government / NMC/MCI for respective year from merit list of NEET-UG of current year by non-admitted students only."
7. On perusal of the above Rules, it is clear that a student can cancel his or her admission by withdrawing the candidature in two eventualities i.e. either before the completion of admission process as per Rule 15(3)(a) or after completion of the admission process as per Rule 15(3)(b) of the Rules, 2017. If a student withdraws his/her candidature before the admission process then he/she has to make a request to the Admission Committee for the same and fees would be refunded. In a case where a student withdraws his/her candidature after completion of the entire admission process by the Admission Committee for any reason whatsoever he/she has to make a request to the college or institution in which admission is granted and the cancellation shall be done by the college or institution and the fees shall be refunded.
8. Hence, in either case the seats which have fallen 'vacant' due to cancellation/withdrawal of candidature by the students would be considered as 'vacant' as per Rule 16 of the Rules, 2017 which would operate only after completion of the admission process and exhaustion of the merit list of the Page 7 of 9 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 24 03:26:31 IST 2022 C/SCA/25325/2022 ORDER DATED: 15/12/2022 eligible candidates as per the admission rules for both Government as well as Management seats in Professional Medical Educational Course due to any circumstances. Such 'vacant' seats shall be filed up from the candidates who have applied to the Admission Committee and qualified as per the NEET - UG criteria but not included in the merit list of the committee because of non-fulfilling of the other criteria of the Admission Rules means the students who are not admitted till the entire admission process is completed.
9. In such circumstances the procedure is prescribed in Rule 16 of the Rules, 2017 that if seats which have remained 'vacant' after completion of the entire admission process such 'vacant' seats shall be displayed on the official website and on the notice board of the office of the Admission Committee and also to be intimated to the colleges or institution wherein the seats have fallen vacant. Thereafter, such colleges or institution are required to fill up the seats as per the criteria laid down by the respective Council, Central Government, NMC or MCI for the year under consideration from the merit list of the NEET - UG of current year of the students who are not admitted till then by the Admission Committee.
10. In view of the above provisions as well as the statement made by learned Government Pleader Ms. Shah for the Admission Committee, this petition is disposed of. The prayer made by the petitioner cannot be granted since as per the Rule 16 of the Rules, 2017 the vacant seat would become available to be offered to the non-admitted students only after Page 8 of 9 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 24 03:26:31 IST 2022 C/SCA/25325/2022 ORDER DATED: 15/12/2022 completion of the entire admission process. As the statement is made on behalf of the Admission Committee that the list of vacant seats on completion of entire admission process, in the facts of the case on 18.12.2022, shall be prepared after getting the information from the respective college or institution as well as the data available with the Admission Committee, the same shall be published on the notice board of the office of the Admission Committee as well as the same data would be published on the website of the Admission Committee and the respective college or institution shall also be intimated about the same so as to admit the students from the merit list of the students which is to be forwarded by the Admission Committee to such college or institution as per the requirement / guidelines of the Central Government, Rules and as per the NMC and MCI and on the basis of such merit list of non- admitted students on 18.12.2022 and the respective college or institution shall be entitled to give admission to the students as per the Rules on or before 20.12.2022 which is the last date fixed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court for completion of admission process for Medical Admission for the Academic Year 2022-23. It is hoped that the entire process as stipulated hereinabove shall be completed on or before 20.12.2022.
11. In view of above directions, this petition is disposed of. Notice is discharged.
(BHARGAV D. KARIA, J) SHRIJIT PILLAI Page 9 of 9 Downloaded on : Sat Dec 24 03:26:31 IST 2022