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AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, JUDGE The present appeal has been preferred by the petitioners (appellants herein) against the judgement dated 18.7.2013 passed by learned Single Judge, vide which their claim for consideration for admission to the Post Graduate Courses under the category of HCMS reserved quota of the State of Haryana stands rejected.

The brief facts are that the appellants are serving as doctors in the Department of Health, Haryana, and they fulfilled the eligibility requirements for consideration for admission to the Post Graduate Degree/diploma in Medical Sciences for the Session 2013 against the HCMS seats in the Haryana quota. No objection certificates to the appellants were issued by the competent authority for considering their case for admission against the seats reserved for HCMS quota. The appellants, in pursuance to the notices issued by the National Board of Examinations (hereinafter referred to as "the L.P.A. NO.1416 OF 2013 :{ 3 }:

for the purpose of admission under the State quota as in-service candidates (HCMS) seats but they were not allowed to do so. Request submitted by the appellants was rejected on the ground that their names do not figure in the State merit list of Haryana and, therefore, cannot be permitted to participate in the counselling.

Appellants, at this stage, had approached this Court, challenging the action of respondent No.3-Director, PGIMS, Rohtak, who was the Chairman of the Counselling Board. The challenge to the action of respondent No.3 in the writ petition was based on the ground that as per the prospectus issued by the respondent- University, the appellants were eligible in all respect for consideration of their claim for admission against the HCMS quota seats, for which they had been issued no objection certificates by the competent authority to consider their claim against the said quota seats. As per the prospectus, admissions have to be based upon the merit of candidates in NEETPG 2013. Appellants, being higher in merit in comparison to the private respondents, were required to be considered as per their merit for admission to HCMS quota seats in the counselling held on 27.5.2013. The second ground taken was that the Board had framed three ranking list, first being the All India merit list, second the list from the State the candidates had passed their Graduation/M.B.B.S. and the third list was from the State the candidates had opted for their domicile. Since the appellants were originally residents of the State of Punjab and Rajasthan respectively L.P.A. NO.1416 OF 2013 :{ 5 }:

Counsel contends that even as per the policy regarding higher studies (Post Graduate level) issued by the Government of Haryana dated 23/27.12.2011 for doctors of the Department of Health in Para (vii), it has been mentioned that after the no objection certificate is issued to the applicant, his/her admission will be L.P.A. NO.1416 OF 2013 :{ 12 }:

governed by the admission rules of the concerned Institution/University. The "no objection certificate" is required not only for the HCMS doctors to be eligible for consideration under the HCMS quota but also against the open seats in the Government Colleges of Haryana or any other State or well established and reputed private medical institutions recognized by the Medical Council of India for sponsorship against the MD/MS reserved seats. The basic eligibility for admission to the Post Graduate against the HCMS quota seats was, thus, domicile of Haryana, for which the appellants could have obtained and produced the certificate from their employer i.e. Director, Health Services, Haryana, being regular employees of the Haryana Government. Since they opted for consideration for admission to Post Graduate courses in the State of Punjab and Rajasthan instead of State quota seats in Haryana, they are only eligible for admission against 50% seats offered at the All India level on the basis of their All India rank list but not for Haryana State quota seats, as the 40% HCMS quota seats are part of Haryana State quota seats only, which has to be filled up as per the merit of the Haryana State rank list prepared by the Board based upon the All India merit of NEETPG 2013. Admissions in the HCMS Quota seats is to be done on the basis of merit list prepared by the respondent-University on the basis of the marks obtained by the applicants as per Haryana State list of NEETPG 2013 examination, in which list the names of the appellants do not figure as their names L.P.A. NO.1416 OF 2013 :{ 13 }:

PG course as a matter of right. However, the State Government may grant NOC subject to the following conditions:-

                               i) to x) xx          xx         xx          xx           xx

                               VIII to XI. Xx            xx           xx        xx

"XII. This policy will supersede all the previous policies issued by the Govt. for Medical/Dental doctors." (underlining is ours) It is not in dispute that the appellants as per the above policy fulfill the requirement, which rendered them eligible for consideration to the seats earmarked for the HCMS quota. However, in the light of the eligibility criteria laid down in the prospectus, which has been referred to above, requirement of the domicile certificate is an essential condition for consideration under the State quota seats. Mere issuance of a no objection certificate would not be enough, thus, for a candidate to be considered under the HCMS quota seats. It may, however, be added that all HCMS doctors, who are desirous of undertaking higher studies against the reserved as well as open seats, are required to apply for no objection certificate to the competent authority, as is apparent from clause VII reproduced above. This obviously means that every HCMS doctor desirous of undertaking higher studies is mandated to obtain a no objection certificate, irrespective of the fact whether he seeks admission against the reserved seats or open seats.