1. Postgraduate dental course admissions — Unilateral admission by private colleges after the prescribed deadline and without Directorate intimation — Cancellation of admissions by State Government. (Para 1 , 2 )
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2022 Supreme(SC) 1091
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
M.R. SHAH, M.M. SUNDRESH, JJ.
Dental Council of India - Appellant
Versus
Sailendra Sharma and Others - Respondents
Civil Appeal No. 7611 of 2022 With Civil Appeal No. 7613 of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(Civil) No.18681 of 2022 @ Diary No. 44009 of 2018, Civil Appeal No. 7612 of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(Civil) No.33527 of 2018
Decided On : 21-10-2022
Important Points
IMPORTANT POINT
Admission into Postgraduate Course in Dental Sciences – Undue sympathy would lead to perpetuating illegality and giving premium to students who got admissions illegally.
Admission into Postgraduate Course in Dental Sciences – Undue sympathy would lead to perpetuating illegality and giving premium to students who got admissions illegally.
Subject
Admission - Illegal Admissions
Act Referred
Chhattisgarh Dental Medicine Postgraduate Admission Rules: .
DENTISTS ACT: .
DENTISTS ACT: .
Headnote
Education – Admission – Postgraduate Course in Dental Sciences – Respective original writ petitioners were granted admissions by private institutions/colleges in postgraduate course illegally by backdoor – Admissions in concerned institutions/colleges were required to be given/granted as per merit only – Even if on last date of admission, seats remained vacant was no ground by institutions/colleges to grant admissions unilaterally and that too without intimating vacant seats to Directorate – High Court ought not have passed such an interim order directing to grant admissions or continue with admission/course – Interim order passed by High Court is not legally sustainable – Nobody can be permitted to take advantage of order passed by Courts – Once it is found that respective original writ petitioners were granted admissions illegally and their admissions are backdoor, thereafter to allow them to continue their course shall be perpetuating illegality – Undue sympathy would lead to perpetuating illegality and giving premium to students who got admissions illegally – Impugned common judgment and order passed by High Court quashed and set aside. (Paras 8, 10, 11, 11.1, 12 and 13)
Facts of the case:
Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned common judgment and order dated 20.08.2018 passed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur in Writ Petition No. 1649/2018 and other allied writ petitions, by which the High Court has allowed the said writ petitions preferred by the respondents – students and has quashed and set aside the communication dated 6.6.2018 of the State of Chhattisgarh annulling/cancelling the admissions of the respective respondents – original writ petitioners in the Postgraduate Dental Course, the Dental Council of India has preferred the present appeals.
Findings of Court:
Impugned common judgment and order passed by the High Court directing the admissions of the respective original writ petitioners and quashing and setting aside communication dated 6.6.2018 issued by the Directorate/State Government annulling/cancelling the admissions of the original writ petitions is unsustainable and the same deserves to be quashed and set aside and is accordingly hereby quashed and set aside.
Result : Appeals allowed.
Legal Category Hierarchy
Advocates appeared:
For the Appellant(s) : Mr. Gaurav Sharma, AOR
For the Respondent(s): Mr. Kaustubh Anshuraj, AOR Mr. M.M. Singh, Adv. Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, AOR Mr. Devashish Tiwari, Adv.
For the Appellant(s) : Mr. Gaurav Sharma, AOR
For the Respondent(s): Mr. Kaustubh Anshuraj, AOR Mr. M.M. Singh, Adv. Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, AOR Mr. Devashish Tiwari, Adv.
Table of Contents
2. Legality of backdoor admissions versus the need to prevent seat wastage and the claim of student merit. (Para 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 )
3. Admissions granted after the deadline without official intimation are illegal backdoor entries; vacancy of seats does not justify bypassing established counselling procedures or deadlines. (Para 8 , 9 , 10 )
4. Admission deadlines in medical education are strict; vacant seats cannot be filled mid-session or unilaterally, and judicial sympathy cannot validate illegal admissions. (Para 10 , 11 , 12 )
5. High Court order quashed — State's communication cancelling illegal admissions restored — Appeals allowed. (Para 13 , 14 )
6. Can vacant seats in postgraduate medical courses be filled after the prescribed deadline?
No. Even if seats remain vacant on the last date of admission, the deadline cannot be extended, and institutions cannot grant admissions unilaterally. The established schedule must be strictly followed to ensure broad-based equality and prevent the violation of the regime. (Para 10 )
7. Does the completion of a course under an interim court order justify the regularization of an illegal admission?
No. Continuation of a course pursuant to an interim order does not legitimize an illegal admission. Misplaced sympathy cannot be used to perpetuate illegalities or override statutory rules governing academic discipline. (Para 11 , 12 )
8. What constitutes a backdoor admission in the context of medical postgraduate courses?
Admissions granted unilaterally by institutions without following the prescribed counselling procedure, without intimating the governing Directorate of vacant seats, and after the official deadline are considered illegal backdoor admissions. (Para 8 , 9 )
JUDGMENT :
M.R. Shah, J.
1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned common judgment and order dated 20.08.2018 passed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur in Writ Petition No. 1649/2018 and other allied writ petitions, by which the High Court has allowed the said writ petitions preferred by the respondents – students and has quashed and set aside the communication dated 6.6.2018 of the State of Chhattisgarh annulling/cancelling the admissions of the respective respondents – original writ petitioners in the Postgraduate Dental Course, the Dental Council of India has preferred the present appeals.
2. The facts leading to the present appeals in a nutshell are as under:
The National Board of Examination conducted NEET MDS 2018 for admission in various Postgraduate Course in Dental Sciences. The result of the NEET MDS 2018 was published on 31.01.2018. A merit list was prepared for the State of Chhattisgarh. The admissions in the Postgraduate Course in Dental Sciences were to be made through counselling by the State Government. The admission process was required to be completed on or before 31.05.2018 before 4:30 p.m.
2.1 As per the procedure and the relevant rules and regulations, namely, Chhattisgarh Dental Medicine Postgraduate Admission Rules , 2017 and the provisions of the Dentists Act, 1948 and MDS Course Regulations, 2017, the particulars of the seats were required to be intimated to the State Government and Directorate of Medical Education, Raipur, Chhattisgarh and as observed hereinabove the admissions were to be given on merits on the basis of the counselling made by the State Government. As per the procedure, after the first round of counselling, there shall be second round of counselling and thereafter the mop up round of counselling. In the present case, the dispute is with respect to three Dental Colleges, namely, New Horizon Dental College Research Institute, Bilaspur (for short, ‘New Horizon College’), Maitri College of Dentistry and Research (for short, ‘Maitri College’), Anjora Durg and Rungta College of Dental Sciences and Research, Bhilai (for short, ‘Rungta College’). New Horizon College intimated seven seats to be included in the mop up round, Maitri College intimated nine seats to be included in the mop up round and Rungta College intimated fifteen seats to be included in the mop up round.
2.2 The Directorate of Medical Education notified the vacant seats including the vacant seats in the aforesaid three colleges on 29.05.2018 to be filled up in mop up round of counselling on the basis of intimation provided by the private colleges including the above three colleges. The vacant seats of the above three colleges were notified in the notice by the Directorate of Medical Education.
2.3 74 candidates appeared for mop up round of counselling before the Directorate on 30.05.2018 including the original writ petitioners, seven in numbers. Out of 74 candidates, 43 candidates were allotted seats. In the mop up round after counselling, New Horizon College was allotted seven seats against seven vacant seats available in the college. Maitri College was allotted nine students against nine vacant seats available in the college and Rungta College was allotted thirteen students against fifteen seats available in the college and two seats remained vacant.
At this stage, it is required to be noted that total number of vacant seats for all five colleges were 46 and out of 46, 43 seats were allotted to students in various colleges including the above three colleges. Out of allotment of 43 seats, 35 candidates joined and 8 seats remained vacant due to non-joining. Thus, only three seats remained unallotted after mop up round of counselling. One seat remained vacant in Chhattisgarh Dental College and two seats remained vacant in Rungta College. The Directorate, on receiving the information of the above vacant seats from the colleges, immediately sent list of 30 students for filling three vacant seats in the ratio of 1
