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2020 Supreme(Mad) 2253
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADRAS
N. Anand Venkatesh, J.
A. Aswin and Ors. – Appellants
Versus
The Secretary to Government of Puducherry, Health and Family Welfare Service Department and Ors. – Respondents
P. Nos. 31921 of 2017, 1155, 1284, 1287, 3259, 4016, 6512, 6518, 6516, 6517, 6513, 6514, 6515, 6519, 6532, 6533, 6521, 6522, 6534, 6523, 6524, 6525, 6526, 6527, 6528, 6530, 6531, 6520, 6529, 6623, 6625, 6626, 6624 of 2018, 15558 to 15568 of 2018, 21255 of 2019, 8473, 9106, 9115, 9336, 9583 of 2020, W.M.P. Nos. 3811, 5161 of 2018, 35070 of 2017, 4790, 1435, 1607, 1608, 4791, 1618, 1619, 2982, 1617, 4792 of 2018, 4003, 4958, 4959, 8065 to 8078 of 2018, 8079 to 8083 of 2018, 8111, 8112, 8119 to 8122 of 2018, 8123 to 8125, 8084 t o 8118 of 2018, 8216 to 8223 of 2018, 18460 to 18481 of 2018, 20459, 28585 of 2019, 10212, 10213, 11099, 11112 to 11114 of 2020, 11418 to 11420 of 2020, 11698 of 2020, 10610 and 10611 of 2020
Decided On : 07-10-2020
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : V.B.R. Menon, B. Balavijayan, G. Ethirajulu, ARL. Sundaresan, Sr. Counsel for AL. Ganthimathi, N.S. Nandakumar and V. Karthic, Sr. Counsel for L. Swaminathan
For the Respondent: C.T. Ramesh, Additional Government Pleader, V.P. Raman, Gopinathan, Standing Counsels, L. Swaminathan, Sriram Panchu, Senior Counsel, V. Chandra Prabu, K. Kumareshbabu, B. Balavijayan, T.V. Lakshmanan, A. Jenasenan, A.V. Ramalingam, Additional Government Pleader, M. Ravi, Standing Counsel, V.B.R. Menon, Bajanai Raja, CGSC, B. Rabu Manohar, S. Prakash, Arunkumar, C.V. Ramachandra Murthy, T.V. Krishnamachari and T. Gowthaman
Headnote:
MCI Post-Graduate Regulations, 2000 - Regulation 9A – Post Graduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2017 - Central Admissions Committee - Medical Council of India - Counselling - Fees - Merit List – Whether fees demanded by the Deemed Universities from the petitioners is illegal or not, is a matter that has to await the Orders of the Division Bench - Designated authority for counselling for the 50% All India Quota seats of contributing States shall be conducted by the Directorate General of Health Services. Such counselling as per the existing schemes shall be only for Diploma and MD/MS courses - Held, It clear that the petitioners were made to run from pillar to post and neither the directions given by the Government of Puducherry nor the directions issued by this Court, had any effect. The ultimate result was that these institutions filled up all those seats unilaterally in a hasty manner- This Court has already held all those admissions to be illegal and violative of Regulation 9A and this Court has upheld discharge order passed by the MCI - It is clear from the above that fees that is payable by a candidate at time of allotment of seat, must be definite and it should not be left to discretion of institutions. In this regard, the order passed by the Government of Puducherry, gains a lot of significance. This order fixed fees structure provisionally for the academic year 2017-18 till it is finally fixed by the Fee Committee - Once this Court finds that institutions have adopted an illegal procedure for filling up the seats and admitting candidates unilaterally, respective institutions are liable to pay costs. - Hence this cost is made payable by respective institutions for the illegal methods adopted by them in filling up the seats. This Court is not going into the issue of the fees charged by the institutions since it is sub judice before Division Bench - Court does not find any ground to interfere with the impugned discharge Order passed by the MCI and the impugned letter issued by the Pondicherry University - W.P. No. 31921 of 2017 is disposed of and Remaining Writ Petitions dismissed
ORDER :
N. Anand Venkatesh, J.
1. The issues involved in all the Writ Petitions are common/inter-connected and hence all the Writ Petitions are taken up together and this common order is passed. These batch of Writ Petitions were entirely heard through video conferencing on the consent given by either sides and apart from the regular hearings during working days, permission was also granted by the Hon'ble Chief Justice to hear the cases on a holiday namely, on 26.09.2020. The hearing was concluded on 26.09.2020 and orders were reserved.
2. There are broadly three categories of cases involved in these batch of Writ Petitions. The first category of cases are Writ Petitions filed by 6 Medical Colleges (3 private Medical Colleges affiliated to Pondicherry University and 3 remaining colleges coming under the category of "Deemed to be University") and these colleges have challenged the order of discharge passed by the Medical Council of India (hereinafter referred to as "MCI"). The second category of Writ Petitions are filed by the candidates belonging to these colleges against the order of discharge passed by the MCI and the third category of Writ Petition was filed by a batch of 28 candidates, who were denied admissions in these colleges even though they were allotted a seat at the time of counselling. The following tabular column will give a bird's eye view of the same:
| Sl. No. | Writ Petition No. | Parties who filed the Writ Petition |
| 1. | 31921 of 2017 | 28 candidates provisionally admitted by CENTAC and allotted with colleges but denied admission by the institutions. |
| 2. | 1155 of 2018 | Sri Venkateswara Medical College (SVMC). |
| 3. | 6623-6626 of 2018, 4016 of 2018 | Candidates who were discharged by the Impugned Order passed by the MCI from Sri Venkateswara Medical College (SVMC). |
| 4. | 1284 of 2018 | Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) |
| 5. | 1287 of 2018 | Candidates who were discharged by the impugned order passed by the MCI from Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). |
| 6. | 3259 of 2018 | Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital (SMVMCH) |
| 7. | 6512-6518 of 2018 and 21255 of 2019 | Candidates who were discharged by the impugned order passed by the MCI from Arupadai Veedu Medical College and Hospital (AVMCH). |
| 8. | 6519-6534 of 2018 | Candidates who were discharged by the impugned order passed by the MCI from Vinayaka Missions Medical College and Hospital (VMMCH). |
| 9. | 15558-15568 of 2018 | Candidates who were discharged by the impugned order passed by the MCI from Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute (MGMCRI) |
3. There is yet another category of Writ Petition filed in W.P. Nos. 8473 of 2020, 9106 of 2020 and 9583 of 2020. These Writ Petitions are filed by SMVMCH and a student belonging to PIMS against the action taken by the Pondicherry University not recognizing the admission on the ground that the admissions were found not to have been made from the Merit List prepared by the Central Admissions Committee (hereinafter referred to as "CENTAC"). These are candidates who were not discharged by the MCI and the irregularity in admission was later found out by the Pondicherry University.
4. The other Writ Petitions have been filed by the same candidates who approached this Court to permit them to write the final examinations on the ground that their discharge orders have already been stayed by this Court.
5. The discharge orders passed by the MCI was stayed by this Court and the concerned candidates were asked to file an affidavit to the effect that they will not claim any equity on the ground of the interim order passed in their favour. Accordingly, the condition imposed by this Court was accepted and thereafter the candidates were permitted to undergo the entire course and they have also written the final examinations. Exce
