IMPORTANT POINTS
Ordinance promulgated to regularise admission of students which were set aside by ASC, Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court just to benefit two colleges, held ultra vires legislative competence.
Order passed by Supreme Court after hearing parties for days together and deciding the matter on merits though at SLP stage and by a short order, cannot be said to be a non-speaking order.
Admissions made without following procedure decided by judicial pronouncement cannot be upheld.

Headnote:(a) Constitution of India – Article 213(1) – Ordinance promulgated to regularise admission of students which were set aside by ASC, Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court – Just to benefit two colleges – Entrenching upon the field of judicial review – A misadventure – State Government exceeding its powers – Impermissible and beyond legislative competence – Having the effect of perpetuating illegality and arbitrariness committed by the colleges in question. (Para 18, 21, 33, 34)
       (1970) 1 SCC 509; (1993) Supp. 1 SCC 96 (II); (2014) 12 SCC 696; (1995) 6 SCC 16; – Relied upon
       (2016) 7 SCC 353; SLP [C] CC. Nos.1938788/2016; C.A. No.9862/2016; (1993) Supp. 1 SCC 96; (2009) 10 SCC 689; 2018 (6) SCALE 174) – Referred
       (2015) 4 SCC 400; (2016) 6 SCC 602; (2010) 6 SCC 499 – Distinguished
       (b) Administration of justice – Binding precedent – Dismissal of SLP – Expressions “heard and dismissed”, “dismissed”, “dismissed as barred by time” – Speaking order – Having two implications – One, statement of law contained in the order is a declaration of law by this Court within the meaning of Article 141 of the Constitution – Secondly, statement in the order are the findings recorded by Supreme Court – Binding on the parties thereto and also the court, tribunal or authority. – Order passed by Supreme Court after hearing parties for days together and deciding the matter on merits though at SLP stage and by a short order, is not non-speaking order – It is binding on the parties and the courts (Para 35, 36)
       (2000) 6 SCC 359 – Referred
       (c) Medical admission – Procedure decided by judicial pronouncement – Not followed – Admissions cannot be upheld. (Para 37)
       (1999) 7 SCC 120; 2018 (6) SCALE 174 – Distinguished
       Facts of the case:
       Competency of the State of Kerala to promulgate the Kerala Professional Colleges (Regularisation of Admission in Medical Colleges) Ordinance, 2017 nullifying the judgments and orders of Supreme Court and encroaching upon the power of the judiciary is in question in this case.
       Findig of tye Court:
       The impugned Ordinance is declared to be ultra vires and entrenching upon the field earmarked for the judiciary as it sought to nullify the judgment and order passed by the High Court and by this Court.
       Result: Writ petitions allowed.

JUDGMENT

ARUN MISHRA, J.

1. The question involved in the writ petition/s is, whether the State of Kerala is competent to promulgate the Kerala Professional Colleges (Regularisation of Admission in Medical Colleges) Ordinance, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as “the Ordinance”) notified on 20.10.2017, which is intended to nullify judgments and orders of this Court and encroaches upon the power of the judiciary.

2. The State of Kerala has promulgated the impugned Ordinance for regularising the admission of 180 students who were illegally admitted in the Kannur Medical College and Karuna Medical College run by Prestige Educational Trust and Safe Development Alms Trust respectively. The students were admitted to the said medical colleges in the academic year 201617. After enquiry, it was found by the Admission Supervisory Committee of the professional colleges (in short "the ASC”) that admissions were illegal. The decision was upheld by the High Court of Kerala and by this Court.

3. The background facts are that on 28.4.2016, this Court in Sankalp Charitable Trust v. Union of India & Ors. (2016) 7 SCC 487 directed that admissions to the MBBS/BDS courses shall be through the National Eligibilitycum-Entrance Test (NEET). The ASC vide order dated 4.8.2016 issued several directions to all the professional colleges in the State of Kerala to conduct the admission process in compliance of the directions laid down by this Court in Sankalp Charitable Trust (supra). On 9.8.2016, the Central Government directed all the States and Union Territories to conduct the combined/centralised counselling for the academic year 201617 for admission in MBBS course in the respective States/Union Territories, in line with the judgment passed by this Court in the case of Modern Dental College & Research Centre & Anr. v. State of M.P. & Ors. (2016) 7 SCC 353.

4. The Government of Kerala vide order dated 23.8.2016 directed all the medical colleges to admit only those students who were selected through common counselling. Writ Petition [Civil] No.28041 of 2016 was filed in the Kerala High Court challenging the order dated 23.8.2016. The High Court vide order dated 26.8.2016 issued interim directions that the admissions in the MBBS course for the academic year 201617 shall be conducted on the basis of the marks obtained in NEET, 2016 and all applications will be made online to facilitate transparency with regard to merit and identities of the applicants.

5. The ASC on 3.9.2016 after taking cognizance of the various complaints received by it, issued directions to the private medical colleges in Kerala to comply with the directions issued by it on 4.8.2016. It was also mentioned that any student whose admission was made in contravention of the directions issued by the ASC, will not be registered by Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS). On 6.9.2016 and 9.9.2016, the ASC passed the orders with regard to the prospectus submitted by Kannur and Karuna Medical Colleges approving the prospectus subject to the exception that reservation of seats under the management quota for the dependents of various trust associations was unsustainable in law and could not be applied while admitting the students. Questioning the same, said medical colleges filed W.P. No.30697/2016 and W.P. [C] No.30712/2016 in the Kerala High Court. The ASC vide order dated 10.9.2016 observed that the explanation submitted by the medical colleges was unsatisfactory and decided to revise the approval of the prospectus and issued a revised admission schedule for the aforesaid medical colleges whereby the date for submitting online applications was revised and extended till 19.9.2016.

6. After conducting an enquiry, the ASC issued an order dated 15.9.2016 with respect to Kannur Medical College observing that the medical college had not called online applications as directed by the ASC by its order dated 10.9.2016 and directed that the admissions made, if any, shall stand cancelled.

7. The ASC passed

Click Here to Read the rest of this document

2018 Supreme(SC) 885

SUPREME COURT OF INDIAArun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, JJ.MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA – PETITIONERVERSUS STATE OF KERALA & ORS. – RESPONDENTSWRIT PETITION [C] NO.231 OF 2018 WITH WRIT PETITION [C] NO.178 OF 2018 Decided On : 12-08-2018

Cases Referred (16)

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, JJ.
MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA – PETITIONER
VERSUS
STATE OF KERALA & ORS. – RESPONDENTS
WRIT PETITION [C] NO.231 OF 2018 WITH WRIT PETITION [C] NO.178 OF 2018
Decided On : 12-08-2018