The court affirmed eligibility requirements for medical post-graduate admission based on merit and house job completion, ruling that pregnancy-related absences do not warrant exceptions to established rules.

1. The order passed in this petition will also govern the disposal of Misc. Petition No. 4037 of 1989 (Dr. (Smt.) Namrata Seth v. State of M. P. and others); Misc. Petition No. 5256 of 1989 (Dr. (Smt.) Namrata Seth v. State of M.P. and 2 others); Misc. Petition No. 29 of 1990 (Dr. (Ku.) Alka Gupta v. State of M. P. and 2 others) and Misc. Petition No. 210 of 1990 (Dr. Sanjay Kumar Mishra and another v. State of M. P. and 4 others), as common question of law and facts arise in all these five petitions which may be disposed of by a common order.

2. In all these five petitions filed under Art.226 of the Constitution of India, the controversy involved relates to the selection of candidates, distribution of seats and admission in post - graduate courses for the year 1989 in the Medical College, Jabalpur. The petitioner Dr. (Ku.) Arifa Almas in Misc. Petition No. 3966 of 1989, seeks quashing of the merit list of candidates who applied for M.D. / M.S. Courses (Annexure P - 1), in so far as the inclusion of the names of respondents Nos. 5 and 6, namely, Dr. (Ku.) Namrata Shrivastava (now Dr. (Mrs.) Namrata Seth) and Dr. (Ku.) Sangeeta Katihar are concerned in the discipline of Surgery appearing at serial Nos. 4 and 6 of merit list (Annexure P - 1); with a further direction that she be granted admission to the post - graduate courses in the discipline of Surgery by up grading her name at serial No. 5 in the said merit list (Annexure P - 1). In Misc. Petition No. 4037 of 1989, (Dr. (Mrs.) Namrata Seth has challenged the decision taken by the Post - Graduate Council, Medical College, Jabalpur, dated 8-8-1989 (Annexure A) declining to allot a seat to her in the Post - Graduate Diploma Course in Pathology on the ground that she had not completed her house job within the calendar year 1989. Dr. (Smt.) Namrata Seth has also filed a second petition, vide Misc. Petition No. 5256 of 1989, claiming a seat in the faculty of M.D. in Pathology out of the two seats which have reverted back to the institutional candidates out of the All India Quota. The petitioner Dr. (Ku.) Alka Gupta in Misc. Petition No. 29 of 1990 as well as two petitioners, namely, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Dr. Vishwajit Jaiswal, in Misc. Petition No. 210 of 1990, have made similar claims for allotment of seats in post - graduate courses in Pathology, out of the two seats reverted back to the institutional candidates from All India Quota in preference to all other candidates.

3. The brief facts leading to these petitions may be summarised thus : All the candidates in these five petitions including the intervener Dr. Harish Bajaj who are claiming admission in post - graduate courses in the respective disciplines belong to 1987 Batch, all of them having passed their M.B.B.S. Examination in August, 1987 and all of them completed their Internship in August, 1988. A merit list of candidates who had applied for house job, was prepared in the year 1988 by the Dean, Medical College Jabalpur, on the basis of the total number of effective marks obtained in M.B.B.S. examination, a copy whereof has been filed as Annexure P - 2 in Misc. Petition No. 29 of 1990. In the said list, the name of Dr. (Ku.) Namrata Shrivastava (now Dr. (Smt.) Namrata Seth) appears at serial No. 23 in the order of merit and that of Dr. Sangeeta Katihar at serial No. 30 while the name of D