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2022 Supreme(Raj) 883
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JAIPUR
PANKAJ MITHAL, ANOOP KUMAR DHAND, JJ.
Madhu Saini D/o B.S. Saini – Appellant
Versus
Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur – Respondent
D.B. Special Appeal Writ Nos. 1046, 1047 of 2022, S.B. Civil Writ Petition Nos. 6207 of 2020, 6233 of 2021
Decided On : 25-11-2022
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellants : K.K. Sharma, Yash Sharma, Ashish Sharma, Daksh Gautam, Aman Lodha.
For the Respondents: Virendra Lodha, Raunak Singhvi, Rachit Sharma, Harshal Tholia, V.B. Sharma, Manorma Sharma, Arvind Sharma, Angad Mirdha.
The main legal point established in the judgment is that admissions to the MDS Course must be conducted through centralized counselling as mandated by the Dentists Act, 1948 and the Regulations, 2007, and admissions granted outside the centralized counselling are irregular and illegal.
Headnote:
Admission - Master in Dental Surgery - Dentists Act, 1948 - [ADMISSION] - [MASTER IN DENTAL SURGERY] - [Dentists Act, 1948, Section 20] - The court discussed the issue of whether the appellants could be given admission to the MDS Course without participating in the centralized NEET P.G. Counselling, contrary to the decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The court referred to the Dentists Act, 1948, Section 20, and the Dental Council of India Revised MDS Course Regulations, 2007, and highlighted the requirement of a single eligibility-cum-entrance examination, namely, NEET PG, for admission to Post Graduate Medical Courses. The court emphasized that the admissions were given to the appellants outside the centralized counselling conducted by the PG Medical/Dental Admission Board, and were contrary to the Notification issued by the respondent authorities. The court also highlighted the judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Modern Dental College and Research Centre and State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Jainarayan Chouksey, which mandated admissions through centralised counselling only by the State Government. The court concluded that the appellants did not undergo the centralized counselling and were well aware from the beginning that their admissions were irregular and illegal, and therefore, were not entitled to any equitable relief.
Fact of the Case:
The appellants sought admission to the Master in Dental Surgery (MDS) Course in the respondent-College without participating in the centralized NEET P.G. Counselling. The appellants were admitted in the MDS Course in contravention of the Regulations, 2007 after the cut-off date, and the Dental Council of India (DCI) had directed the discharge of the appellants due to irregular admissions. The appellants filed writ petitions seeking directions against the respondent-University to permit them to fill online examination forms and to participate in MDS Final Year Examination without disclosing the complete facts. The learned Single Judge dismissed the petitions, leading to the submission of special appeals before the Court.
Finding of the Court:
The Court found that the appellants did not undergo the centralized counselling and were well aware from the beginning that their admissions were irregular and illegal. The Court concluded that the appellants were not entitled to any equitable relief.
Issues: The issues involved were whether the appellants could be given admission to the MDS Course without participating in the centralized NEET P.G. Counselling, and whether their admissions were irregular and illegal.
Ratio Decidendi: The Court held that the appellants did not undergo the centralized counselling and were well aware from the beginning that their admissions were irregular and illegal, and therefore, were not entitled to any equitable relief.
Final Decision: The Court dismissed the appeals and directed the respondent-College to pay and deposit the costs of Rs. 25,00,000 with the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority (RSLSA) and the appellants to deposit their degrees with the University within one month, failing which the respondent-University would be at liberty to initiate contempt proceedings against the appellants.
JUDGMENT :
ANOOP KUMAR DHAND, J.
1. The issue involved in these special appeals is that ‘whether the appellants can be given admission by the Dental College in Master in Dental Surgery (for short ‘MDS Course’) contrary to the decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the cases of Modern Dental Medical College and Research Centre and Others vs. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others, (2016) 7 SCC 353 and State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Jainarayan Chouksey and Others, (2016) 9 SCC 412, without participation of the appellants in the centralized NEET P.G. Counselling?
2. Both these appeals arise out of the impugned judgment dated 03.08.2022 passed by the learned Single Judge by which the writ petitions submitted by the appellants have been dismissed and the respondent-Daswani Dental College (for short ‘respondent-College’) has been directed to pay a sum of Rs. 10,00,000/- to each of the appellants as compensation and the Vice Chancellor of the respondent-Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (for short ‘the University’) has been directed to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the erring officers who have admitted the appellants in MDS Course, 2017 in contravention of the order passed by this Court.
3. In exercising the powers conferred by Section 20 of the Dentists Act, 1948 (for short ‘Act of 1948’) the Dental Council of India (for short ‘the DCI’) with the previous sanction of the Central Government, enacted Dental Council of India Revised MDS Course Regulations, 2007 (for short ‘the Regulation 2007’) vide Notification dated 31.05.2012 for selection and admission of the candidates for Post Graduate Courses. As per Clause 3 (1) of this Regulation, there shall be single eligibility-cum-entrance examination namely; National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to Post Graduate Medical Courses (for short ‘NEET PG’) in each academic year.
4. In pursuance of the Regulation, 2007, the NEET PG Examination-2017 was conducted for selection and admission of the candidates in MDS Course. The appellants/petitioners No. 2, 5, 7, 12 to 15 appeared in the said NEET PG test and only appellants/petitioners No. 5 and 15 qualified but did not participate in the centralized counselling and the rest did not qualify. The appellants-petitioners No. 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 to 11 and 16 have not even appeared in the said test, even then all the appellants got admission in MDS Course in the respondent-College in contravention of the Regulations, 2007 after the cut off date i.e 31.05.2017.
5. Vide letter dated 17.05.2017, the DCI directed all the Dental Colleges to upload the details of the students admitted in MDS Course for the academic session 2017-18. In pursuance of the said letter, the respondent-College uploaded details of 20 candidates admitted in MDS Course. On verification from Chairman, NEET PG (Medical/Dental) Admission Board, 2017, it was found that none of the appellants/petitioners was admitted by the NEET PG Board. Thereafter, the Executive Committee of the DCI took a decision in its meeting dated 23.08.2018 to discharge all the appellants because the counselling authority had not verified/confirmed the admission of these appellants in MDS Course at Daswani Dental College for the academic session 2017-18. The said decision was communicated by the DCI to the respondent-College vide letter dated 12.09.2018 followed by its reminder letters dated 31.10.2018 and 08.02.2019.
6. In-spite of receipt of these letters dated 12.09.2018, 31.10.2018 and 08.02.2019, the respondent-College did not discharge the appellants and cancel their admissions for the reasons best known to the College.
7. At this juncture, the appellants submitted S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 6207/2020 before the learned Single Bench seeking directions against the respondent-University to permit them to fill online examination forms and to participate in MDS Final Year (Main) Examination to be held in June 2020, without disclosing the complete facts. The learned Single Judge vide interim order
