The primacy of the Medical Council of India's guidelines in the matter of admission into medical courses and the binding nature of the regulations framed by the Medical Council of India for postgraduate medical education.

B. Biswas, J.

1. This petition has been taken up for hearing with priority as it related to the dispute raised pertaining to admission to 1st year MBBS Course in the Medical Colleges in the State of Assam.

2. Writ petitioner is a member of Scheduled Trible (Plains) Community. The petitioner appeared in All India Secondary School Examination (Matriculation) in the year 2001 under the Central Board of Secondary Education and came out successful securing 85% of marks. Thereafter, she pursued her Higher Secondary Course in science stream from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Dullajan, Assam and came out successful in the said examination in the year 2003 having secured 78% of marks. The petitioner appeared in the Joint Entrance Test Examination, 2003 for admission in medical college in the State of Assam. The result of the aforesaid test was declared on 12.7.2003, and the petitioner stood selected in order of merit against Scheduled Tribe (Plains) quota. The result sheet annexed as Annexure-E to the writ petition shows that her position in order of merit amongst the Schedule Tribe (Plains) candidates is 14th. She had scoured 67 marks in the qualifying examination. Having been empanelled in the select list, the petitioner was under the expectation that she would be given a seat in any of the three medical colleges in the State of Assam. But to her dismay and frustration, her candidature stood rejected on the ground that she had not attained the age of 17 years on 1st of August, 2003 as per rules framed by the State Government.

3. Mr. K.N. Choudhury, learned senior counsel for the petitioner submitted that the eligibility criteria as per Medical Council of India guidelines require that a candidate must be 17 years of age on the 31st of December of the year of admission to the MBBS Course. According to Mr. Choudhury, the writ petitioner would have been more than 17 years on the 31st day of December and, therefore, she had the eligibility for admission as prescribed by the Medical Council of India. According to Mr. Choudhury, the rules framed by the State Government, namely, the Medical Colleges of Assam and Regional Dental College (Regulation of Admission of Under Graduate Students) Rules, 1996 also incorporated the aforesaid guidelines of the Medical Council of India in Clause (f) to Sub-rule (2) of Rule 3. Abruptly, the respondent authority by an amendment carried out on 12.6.2003 substituted the aforesaid clause prescribing the minimum qualifying age for admission as 17 years as on the 1st day of August of the year of admission. According to Mr. Choudhury, this amendment is in conflict with the guidelines of the Medical Council of India and, therefore, cannot govern the situation in so far the admission to Medical Colleges is concerned. In order to bring home this contention, Mr. Choudhury referred to a decision of the Supreme Court of India in Medical Council of India v. Madhu Singh and Ors.. The aforesaid decision was rendered on a different factual matrix, but in the concluding part in para-23, the primacy of the guidelines prescribed by the Medical Council of India has been upheld. Yet, in another case, i.e., Dr. Preeti Srivastava and Anr. v. State of M.P. and Ors. the Supreme Court held as follows :

39. The respondent have emphasised the observation that admission has to be made by those who are in control of the colleges. But the question is, on what basis ? Admissions must be made on a basis which is consistent with the standards laid down by a statute or regulation framed by the Central Government in exercise of its powers under Entry 66 List I. At times, in some of the judgments, the words "eligibility" and "qualification" have been used interchangeably and in some cases a distinction has been made between the two words - "eligibility" connoting the minimum criteria for selection that may be laid down by the University Act or any Central statute, while "qualifications" connoting the additional norms laid down by the colleges or by