JUDGMENT

SHARMA, J.— Special leave is granted.

2. The appellant and respondent 5 along with others were candidates for admission to the Post-Graduate Course in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the G.R. Medical College, Gwalior. They had duly passed the MBBS examination and satisfied the other essential conditions for admission. The selection of the candidates was made on the basis of their relative merit and respondent 5 was selected as the last candidate in the list of the successful applicants. The appellant was placed on the top of the waiting list and was admitted for the Diploma Course. She challenged the admission of respondent 5 on the ground that the latter was a foreign national, and was not entitled to be considered for admission in absence of prior clearance certificate by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Central Government; which she could not file along with her application nor could she produce it before she was finally selected. A writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution filed by the appellant was heard by a Full Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and was dismissed by the judgment under appeal.

3. The learned counsel for the appellant has relied upon the Instruction dated August 6,1983 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to the Deans and the Principals of all Medical Colleges regarding procedure for admission of foreign students in medical institutions in the country. By a subsequent order the Instruction which in terms had been issued for a particular year was kept alive. The learned counsel for the respondents have not disputed the binding nature of the Instruction. But there is a serious dispute about its interpretation.

4. After the receipt of the applications for admission the matter was scrutinised by a committee described as the College and Hospital Council and it prepared a merit list in which respondent 5 ranked higher than the appellant Objections were invited latest by October 23, 1989 and the appellant filed her application within time alleging that respondent 5 was not eligible for admission at all as she had not produced the necessary certificate from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It appears that respondent 5 had produced a letter from the Ministry of External Affairs stating that the said Ministry had no objection to the admission of the respondent. The objection was considered by the College and Hospital Council of which besides others the Dean Dr AK. Govila as also the mother-in-law of respondent 5 Dr (Mrs) P. Oliyai, a former Professor and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the College were members. The objection raised by the appellant was rejected by the following decision:

"(b) Dr Roza Oliyai, since married to an Indian doctor and obtained the permission of Ministry of External Affairs (Letter No. 1703/Dir. (GMS)/89 dated August 31, 1989), the objections raised were rejected and her merit stands as status quo." Accordingly the final list was published on November 8, 1989. Respondent 5 was, however, able to obtain the necessary certificate from theMinistry of Health and Family Welfare later and the same was filed in the College. Respondent 5 was formally admitted in the first week of December 1989.

5. The learned counsel for the appellant has pressed the following two points in support of the appeal:

(a) The selection of respondent 5 by the College and Hospital Council was vitiated on account of participation of the respondents mother-in-law as a member; and

(b) Under the Government of India Instruction it was necessary for respondent 5 to have produced before the College and Hospital Council the necessary certificate from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare before her final selection. The crucial date was when respondent 5 was finally selected and her formal admission later in December 1989 was not material. Also the certificate issued by the Ministry of External Affairs could not be a substitute