ORDER

1. Permission to file SLP granted.

2. Leave granted.

3. Various candidates appeared in the entrance test (PMET, 2003) conducted by Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot for admission to MBBS, BDS and other courses. The seats for MBBS were to be filled up in (i) Government Medical College, Patiala, (ii) Government Medical College, Amritsar, (iii) Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, (iv) Sri Guru Ram Dass Institute of Sciences and Medical Research (SGRD), Amritsar, and (v) DMC, Ludhiana. The entrance test was held on 29-6-2003. In order to appreciate the directions issued by the High Court, it would be appropriate to notice the merit position of the appellants who had challenged the grant of admissions to Respondents 9 to 13 in DMC, Ludhiana as under:

S.No. NameRankCategory

1. Varinder Joshi (Petitioner 1) 189 General

2. Mohit Shakia (Petitioner 2) 192-do-

3.Ankit (Petitioner 3)233-do-

4.Richa Garg (Petitioner 4)261-do-

5.Vivek Bansal (Petitioner 5)265-do-

6. Renu Bala (Petitioner 6) 270-do-

7. Deepak Garg (Petitioner 7)326-do-

8.Gumoor Channi (Respondent 10) 372-do-

9. Muskan Dogra (Respondent 11)857-do-

10.Aikaj Jindal (Respondent 12)857-do-

11. Neha Sood (Respondent 13) 2551-do-

The position of candidates as petitioner or respondent, as abovenoted, is as given in the writ petition before the High Court. Further, insofar as Deepak Garg is concerned, he did not take admission and, therefore, we need not a consider his case. We may also note that Ankit, Petitioner 3 before the High Court took admission in BDS course in Dental Medical College, Patiala as he was only interested to join MBBS course in DMC, Ludhiana. It seems that in Punjab for MBBS course, DMC, Ludhiana is the most sought-for college out of the aforenoted five colleges.

4. From the merit position of candidates who were Respondents 11, 12 b and 13 before the High Court, it is evident that there is enormous gap in their ranking in merit as compared to those of the petitioners who had challenged the admissions given by DMC, Ludhiana.

5. The candidates Muskan Dogra, Aikaj Jindal and Neha Sood, appellants in civil appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 21219 of 2004, have challenged the impugned judgment of the High Court directing cancellation of admissions C granted to them. Candidate Gurnoor Channi is appellant in civil appeal arising out of SLP (C) No. 21338 of 2004. She has also challenged the directions concerning her in the impugned judgment.

6. We have perused the record and heard submissions made by learned counsel representing the affected candidates, the colleges concerned, the State Government and Medical Council of India.

7. It cannot be doubted that the aforesaid three candidates, with the ranking of 857 and 2551 on merit, in general category, would not have got admission in any medical colleges in Punjab in MBBS course. They, however, were given admission as a result of a separate quota that was introduced by DMC, Ludhiana, namely, the "faculty quota" meant for wards of the bona fide faculty members.

8. The "faculty quota" has been declared as unconstitutional by the High Court. There are various decisions of this Court deprecating such quota and reservation. The High Court after rightly quashing the quota and consequently the admissions granted to the aforesaid three candidates, issued the following directions:

"(i) The reservation introduced as faculty quota, namely, the wards of bona fide faculty members by DMC, Ludhiana for admission to MBBS course is declared unconstitutional and the same is accordingly struck down; consequently, the admissions granted to Respondents 11 to 13, who were admitted against the aforementioned faculty quota, are also set aside.

(ii) The manner in which seats have been filled from the waiting list, is held to be illegal and consequently, the admission granted to Respondent 10 out of the waiting list in DMC, Ludhiana is set aside.

(iii) The petitioners except Petitioner 6 who are higher in merit than Respondents 9 to