IMPORTANT POINT
Allotment of seats under the All-India quota of PG seats for medical admissions, the process as to which had commenced pursuant to the advertisement dated 16-9-2003 shall remain confined to 25 only.

Headnote:EDUCATION-Medical Admissions -Post graduate courses of study-Reservations based on residence or on institutional preference-Constitutional permissibility-All India quota of PG seats increased to 50 instead of 25 as prevailing, by the judgment of Supreme Court dated 4-11-2003 reported in (2003) 11 SCC 146-Applications filed by a batch of students seeking admission against All India quota for directing Union of India to make available 50 seats under the All India quota consistently with the judgment of the Supreme Court-Process of admission commenced with release of prospectus and public advertisement in September 2003-At that time seats available under All India quota were only 25 -Judgment of the Court dated 4-11-2003 held not applicable to this process of admission-Decision of the Supreme Court made applicable only prospectively-Allotment of seats under All-India quota, process as to which commenced pursuant to advertisement dated 16-9-2003 shall remain confined to 25 only [Majority Judgment].
       Held : Majority Judgment [R.C. Lahoti, B.N. Agrawal, Ashok Bhan and Dr. AR. Lakshmanan, JJ.]
       It is not disputed at the Bar that the process of admission commenced with the release of prospectus and public advertisement in September, 2003 and at that point of time the seats available under the All-India quota were only 20 and this is how the examination was planned and obviously the medical graduates also must have made applications seeking admissions against 25 seats. The law has been settled by the Constitution Bench of this Court through its judgment dated November 4, 2003. However, this Court has nowhere in its judgment made the declaration of law applicable to the process of admission which had already commenced. Indeed, there is no direction made to the contrary either, i.e., as to the prospective applicability of the judgment and prospective overruling of the decision of this Court in Dr. Dinesh Kumar s case (supra). This has prompted the several applications being filed and the position, therefore, needs to be clarified so as to clear the doubts. In our opinion, it would be appropriate to hold and direct the decision in Dr. Saurabh Chaudri s case being made applicable only prospectively and thus exclude from the operation thereof the process of admission which had already commenced and was nearing finalisation when the judgment came to be pronounced. Accordingly, it is directed that the allotment of seats under All-India quota, the process as to which had commenced pursuant to the advertisement dated September 16, 2003 shall remain confined to 25 only. (Paras 4 to 6)
       Minority Judgment [S.B. Sinha, J.]
       It is not in dispute that the Union of India and all the States were parties to the writ petition, and, thus, were aware of the aforementioned orders as also the fact that the judgment in the matter has been reserved. Despite the same All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) issued a purported advertisement on 16.9.2003 fixing 25 quota for the students appearing at the All India Admission Test. It failed and/or neglected to point out that the said advertisement would be subject to the result of the decision in Saurabh Chaudri (supra); although in its prospectus reference was made to the earlier order of this Court. The last date for receipt of the application was fixed on 29.10.2003 and entrance examinations were held on 11.1.2004 and allotment of seats by personal appearance had been fixed on 8.3.2004 wherefor results were declared on 4.3.2004. (Para 17)
       By reason of a judgment, as is well-known, a law is declared. Declaration of such law may affect the rights of the parties retrospectively. Prospective application of a judgment by the court must, therefore, be expressly stated. The order dated 1.5.2004 furthermore is a pointer to the fact that this Court refused to interfere at that stage having regard to the fact that the admission of the students had already taken place. Despite the same, such admissions were made subject to the result of the writ petition. The parties, therefore, could not have any doubt as regard the fact that the judgment will be implemented in relation to the students who were to take admission in 2004 and onwards. The students appearing at the All India Entrance Examination held by AIIMS or by the State Governments or the Universities, presumably were aware of the said fact. (Para 20)
       We must notice that it is not a case of the Union of India that the judgment in Saurabh Chaudri (supra) cannot be given effect to even at this stage. If it can be given effect to the court should not issue a direction which would run contrary to the ratio laid down by this Court in the main judgment, particularly when the examinations had been held much after the rendition of the judgment. Asking the court to apply the judgment of this Court with prospective effect would amount to asking for a review and, thus, the same cannot be permitted to be achieved by filing an application for clarification. (Para 34)
       Therefore, I respectfully dissent with the opinion of Brother Lahoti, J. I am of the view that no case has been made out for applying the judgment in Saurabh Chaudri (supra) from the academic year 2005. (Para 36)

ORDER

Several applications have been filed seeking clarifications in, and/or directions for implementing, the judgment of this Court dated November 4, 2003 in W.P.(C) No. 29 of 2003 - Saurabh Chaudri & Ors. Vs. Union of India & Ors. and connected cases (since reported as (2003) 11 SCC 146).

2. The issue arising for decision was: whether any reservation, be it based on residence or on institutional preference, is constitutionally permissible in PG courses of study. The conclusions arrived at by the Court may briefly be summed up as under:-

(1) All-India quota of PG seats should be 50 (instead of 25 as prevailing hitherto) which should be filled up by common entrance test.

(2) The original scheme as framed by this Court in Dr. Pradeep Jain s case (1984) 3 SCC 654 should be continued unless replaced by a Central Legislation in preference to the scheme laid down by this Court in Dr. Dinesh Kumar s case (1986) 3 SCC 727.

(3) Institutional preference to be given to medical students for the purpose of admission against PG seats in All-India Institute of Medical Sciences should remain confined to 50 of the total seats in MBBS and the decision of this Court in AIIMS Students Union Vs. AIIMS (2002) 1 SCC 428 should continue to hold the field.

3. The examination for admission against All-India quota seats is conducted by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (hereinafter, AIIMS ). The prospectus for holding All-India Entrance Examination for MD/MS/PG Diploma and MDS Courses 2004 was issued by the AIIMS and was available for sale on and from Sept. 22, 2003. Therein it was declared that the competitive entrance examination on All-India basis was being held for admission to 25 open merit seats in various post-graduate courses. Public advertisement in this regard was issued on September 16, 2003. The last date for receipt of applications was October 27, 2003. The examinations were held on January 11, 2004. The result was declared on March 4, 2004. The AIIMS commenced counselling for the purpose of allotting 25 PG seats. At this point of time, several applications have come to be filed. IA No. 8 of 2004 has been filed by the Union of India submitting that it would be proper to confine the percentage of seats for the All-India quota to 25 , i.e., the percentage based whereon the process for selection and admission had already commenced before the date of judgment of this Court. There are several other similar applications filed by a few students who have applied for admission against quotas other than All-India quota. IA No.7 of 2004 has been filed by a batch of students seeking admission against All-India quota for directing the Union of India to make available 50 seats under the All-India quota consistently with the judgment of this Court. There are other similar applications.

4. We have heard the learned Solicitor General and all other learned counsel appearing for the several applicants. It is not disputed at the Bar that the process of admission commenced with the release of prospectus and public advertisement in September, 2003 and at that point of time the seats available under the All-India quota were only 20 and this is how the examination was planned and obviously the medical graduates also must have made applications seeking admissions against 25 seats. The law has been settled by the Constitution Bench of this Court through its judgment dated November 4, 2003. However, this Court has nowhere in its judgment made the declaration of law applicable to the process of admission which had already commenced. Indeed, there is no direction made to the contrary either, i.e., as to the prospective applicability of the judgment and prospective overruling of the decision of this Court in Dr. Dinesh Kumar s case (supra). This has prompted the several applications being filed and the position, therefore, needs to be clarified so as to clear the doubts.

5. In our opinion, it would be approp

Click Here to Read the rest of this document

2004 Supreme(SC) 643

IMPORTANT POINTAllotment of seats under the All-India quota of PG seats for medical admissions, the process as to which had commenced pursuant to the advertisement dated 16-9-2003 shall remain confined to 25 only.

Cases Referred (9)

IMPORTANT POINT
Allotment of seats under the All-India quota of PG seats for medical admissions, the process as to which had commenced pursuant to the advertisement dated 16-9-2003 shall remain confined to 25 only.