IMPORTANT POINT
Unfilled NRI seats go to general pool.

JUDGMENT

T.S. Thakur, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. These appeals are directed against an order dated 30th July, 2010 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in Writ Petitions Nos. 6876 and 8979 of 2009 whereby a total of 15 seats in the 1st year MBBS course have been directed to be reduced from out of the management quota of the appellant-college for the academic session 2010-2011, with a direction to the Admission and Fee Regulator Committee to ensure that the order passed by the Court is carried out in letter and spirit. The facts giving rise to the filing of the writ petitions may be summarized as under:

3. For the academic session 2006-2007 the appellant-M/s R.D. Gardi Medical College, Ujjain, admitted to the first year of MBBS course as many as 19 students who had not secured 50% marks in the examination conducted by the Association of Private Medical and Dental College of M.P. The legality of the said admissions came up for scrutiny before the High Court who declared the same to be illegal hence liable to be cancelled. Aggrieved by the said order the affected students approached this Court in Civil Appeal Nos.5518-5521 of 2008 which were disposed of by this Court by an order dated 4th September, 2008 holding that the college was not justified in giving admission to students who were not eligible in terms of the relevant rules. This Court, however, permitted the students to continue their studies but directed that an equal number of seats shall be reduced from the management quota of the college for the academic session 2009- 2010. This Court said:

“The management of the R.D. Gardi Medical college was not justified in giving admission to these students. Certainly, they must be aware of the fact that the candidates should have secured at least 50% marks in the entrance examination but the learned senior counsel appearing for the college says that they were not aware of the marks secured by these candidates as the entrance examination was held by a different association as the marks were not furnished to them by the association. However, as the admission is found to be irregular, equal number of students shall be reduced from the management quota for the year 2009-10.

The appeals are disposed of accordingly. No costs.” (emphasis supplied)

4. By an order dated 22nd April, 2009 passed by the High Court in Writ Petitions No.5592 of 2008 and 5624 of 2008, on the analogy of the order of this Court extracted above two more seats against which the said petitioners were admitted without satisfying the essential condition of eligibility were also directed to be reduced from management quota of the appellant-college for the academic session 2009-2010 thereby taking the total number of seats to be reduced from the quota of the management to 21.

5. On the receipt of the orders abovementioned the Medical Council of India sent a communication dated 26th May, 2009 requesting the Principal Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Director of Medical Education, Madhya Pradesh to fill up 21 seats (19 admission as per the Order of this Court dated 4th September, 2008 and 2 admission as per the order dated 22 nd April, 2009 passed by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh) through MPCET entrance test for the academic session 2009-2010. Writ Petition No.2732 of 2009 filed by the private educational institutions before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh challenging the constitutional validity of what is known as “M.P. Niji Vyavsayik Shikshan Sanstha (Pravesh Ka Viniyaman Avam Shulk Ka Nirdharan) Adhiniyam, 2007” was in the meantime disposed of by the High Court on 21st May, 2009, aggrieved whereof the private educational institutions filed Civil Appeal No.4060 of 2009 in this Court by special leave. This Court noticed that the common question of law that arose in the said batch of appeals was as to how far it was permissible under the Constitution for the State to control and regulate admissions and fee in private unaided professional educationa