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2009 Supreme(Del) 1304
HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
HONBLE DR. JUSTICE S.MURALIDHAR, J.
Dr. MANISH PATNECHA ..... Appellant
Versus
CHAIRPERSON COUNSELING COMMITTEE A.I.I.M.S. ..... Respondent
LPA 622/2009
Decided on : 10.12.2009
Mr.Maninder Singh, Sr.Advocate with Mr. Gaurav Duggal and Mr. T.Singh Dev, Advocates
Mr. Sunil Fernandes with Mr.Rajat Jariwala, Advocates
The main legal point established in the judgment is that a candidate cannot be denied the opportunity to opt for a reserved seat in a subsequent counselling round based on a provisional seat chosen in a previous round, and that the denial of admission in such circumstances warrants the grant of consequential relief.
Headnote:
Mandamus - Admission to Post Graduate Course - Allocation of Seats - Writ Petition - AIIMS - Nuclear Medicine - OBC Category - MD Pharmacology - Provisional Seat - Second Counselling - Consequential Relief
Fact of the Case:
The appellant sought a writ of mandamus to be admitted to the post graduate course in Nuclear Medicine in the OBC category after being denied the opportunity in the second round of counselling due to a provisional seat in the general category during the first round.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the appellant was unjustifiably denied participation in the second round of counselling and was entitled to admission in the next session in the UR category. The court issued a direction to the respondent to admit the appellant to the post graduate course in Nuclear Medicine in the next session commencing in January 2010.
Issues: The issues included the denial of the appellant's opportunity to opt for a reserved seat in the OBC category in the post graduate course in Nuclear Medicine during the second round of counselling and the consequential relief to be granted to the appellant.
Ratio Decidendi: The court relied on the legal position enunciated by the Supreme Court in Ritesh R. Sah v. Dr. Y.L. Yamul and Others and a Full Bench decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Dr. B. Kaladhar & Ors v. Government of A.P., Health, Medical & Family Welfare Department to conclude that the appellant was wrongfully denied a seat in Nuclear Medicine and was entitled to the consequential relief.
Final Decision: The court issued a direction to the respondent to admit the appellant to the post graduate course in Nuclear Medicine in one of the UR seats in the next session commencing in January 2010 and permitted the appellant to participate in the upcoming counselling.
1. This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 19th November, 2009 passed by the learned single Judge disposing the appellant’s Writ Petition (C) No.9763/2009.
2. The appellant sought a writ of mandamus to the respondent, the Chairperson, Counselling Committee, Academic Section, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi to re-schedule the second round of counselling for admission to the post graduate course and give the appellant admission in the subject of Nuclear Medicine in the reserved category.
3. The appellant appeared for admission to the post graduate courses in AIIMS. He was ranked 125th in overall merit and 25th in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. He was called for the first round of counselling on 11th June, 2009. According to the appellant, and this is not denied by the respondent, he gave an option for the general category course in Anatomy during the first round of counselling since as on the date of the first counseling the OBC list was already exhausted. His option for Anatomy was admittedly provisional. In terms of the bulletin of information supplied by the respondent to the candidates the procedure to be followed in the first two rounds of counseling was as under:
“F. Allocation of Seats First Counselling (to be held on 11.6.2009)
a) The order of counselling will be ST/SC/OBC/General/50% AIIMS preferential candidates of total MBBS seats of AIIMS
b) Group 1- Confirmed seats: A candidate who has got a confirmed seat in the subject of his/her choice, will not be allowed to change the subject and will not be eligible for the second counselling.
c) Group 2- If a candidate wants subject “A” and it is not available at his/her rank/turn he/she can choose subject “B” provisionally. His/Her provisional seat will be confirmed only in the second counselling.
d) Group 3- A candidate, who does not take any seat provisionally but wants to come for the second counselling will be eligible for second counselling.
e) All candidates in group 1 (confirmed seat) shall deposit fees as per the date stipulated in the selection letter. If they fail to deposit fees, and/or do not join after depositing the fees then they would lose the seat allotted to them and such candidates will not be eligible for second counselling.
Second Counselling (to be held on 18.6.2009)
a) The order of the second counselling will be ST/SC/OBC/General/50% AIIMS preferential candidates of total MBBS seats of AIIMS.
b) In case during the second counselling ST seats remains vacant after calling all eligible candidates of ST category then these seats will be transferred to the SC category. Similarly, in case the ST seat remains vacant after calling all eligible SC candidates then these seats, whether they pertain to ST category or SC category, shall be made available to the General Category/AIIMS preferential graduates. Similarly, in case the OBC seat remains vacant after calling all eligible OBC candidates then these seats, shall be made available to the General category/AIIMS preferential graduates.
c) During first counselling, candidates who had provisionally, opted for seats under group 2 (provisionally) will be allocated only those seats which they had provisionally opted in the first counselling and/or the seats which were not available at his/her turn as per merit in the first counselling.
d) Group 2 and 3 from first counselling will be eligible to attend the second counselling as specified in clauses F(c), (d) and (e)
e) A candidate belonging to Group 2 would lose the seat allotted provisionally in the first counselling, if he/she does not attend the second counselling.
f) In the second counselling, all the seats will be confirmed seats.”
4. In the second round of counselling which took place on 18th June, 2009, the appellant opted for Nuclear Medicine under the OBC category. However, the respondent objected to it on the ground that the appellant had already exercised his choice for Anatomy in the general category
