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2023 Supreme(Online)(Pat) 11612
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Letters Patent Appeal No. 1369 of 2017 In Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.388 of 2017 ======================================================
Gul Afshan Naz, D/o Shoaib Ahmad, Resident of East of Masjid, Baitul Karim, Isha Nagar, Naya Tola, Phulwarisharif, Patna ... ... Appellant/s Versus
1. The Union of India through the Secretary, Ministry of Health, Govt. of India, New Delhi
2. The Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, Education Centre-2, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi
3. The Secretary, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi
4. The Director General, Directorate General of Health Service Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
5. The Principal Secretary Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of Bihar, New Secretariat, Patna, Bihar
6. The Chairman, Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, I.A.S. Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna14
7. The Controller of Examination, Bihar Combind Entrance Competitive Examination Board I.A.S. Association, Building, Near Patna-Airport, Patna-
14
8. Medical Council of India Pocet- 14, Sector-8, Dwarka New Delhi through its Chairman
9. Arvind Choudhary, the then Controller of Examination BCECEB, IAS Association Building, Near Patna Airport,Patna-14
10. Akbar Kabir S/o Humayum Kabir, SKMC,Muzaffarpur
11. Rishu Kumar S/o Pappu Kumar Pandey SKMC,Muzaffarpur
12. Anil Kumar Yadav S/o Umesh Yadav DMC, Laheriasarai
13. Ashtha Raj S/o Raj Kishor Prasad IGIMS, Patna ... ... Respondent/s ======================================================
with Letters Patent Appeal No.1075 of 2017 In Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.19183 of 2016 ======================================================
1. The Chairman, Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, IAS Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14
2. The Controller of Examination, Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, IAS Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14
3. Arvind Choudhary, The Then Controller of Examination, BCECEB, I.A.S.
Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14.
... ... Appellant/s Versus
1. Dipty Preyasi, D/o-Diwakar Singh Bahadur, Resident of Village-Nepura, PO and P.S.-Asthawan, District-Nalanda.
2. The Union of India through the Secretary, Ministry of Health Govt. of India, New Delhi.
3. The Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, Education Centre-2, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi.
4. The Secretary, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
5. The Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
6. The Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of BIhar, New Secretariat, 7. Medical Council of India, Pocket 14, Sector-8, Dwarka, New Delhi, through its Chairman.
8. Akbar Kabir, Son of Humayun Kabir, SKMC, Muzaffarpur.
9. Rishu Kumar, Son of Papu Kumar Pandey, SKMC, Muzaffarpur.
10. Anil Kumar Yadav, Son of Umesh Yadav, DMC, Laheriasarai.
11. Astha Raj Son of Raj Kishore Prasad, IGIMS, Patna.
... ... Respondent/s ======================================================
with Letters Patent Appeal No. 1076 of 2017 In CIVIL WRIT JURISDICTION CASE NO. 19135 OF 2016 ======================================================
1. The Chairman, Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board IAS Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14
2. The Controller of Examination, Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, IAS Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14
3. Arvind Choudhary, The Then Controller of Examination, BCECEB, I.A.S.
Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14.
... ... Appellant/s Versus
1. Manisha Gaurav, D/o Sanjay Kumar, Resident of behind Qr. No.30, Road no. 10, Moh-Chakbinda, Gardanibagh, PS-Gardanibagh, District-Patna.
2. The Union of India through the Secretary Ministry of Health, Govt. of India New Delhi
3. The Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, Education Centre-2, Communty Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi
4. The Secretary, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
5. The Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
6. The Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of Bihar, New Secretariat, New Secretariat, Patna, Bihar
7. Medical Council of India, Pocket 14, Sector-8, Dwarka, New Delhi, through its Chairman.
8. Akbar Kabir, Son of Humayun Kabir, SKMC, Muzaffarpur.
9. Rishu Kumar, Son of Pappu Kumar Pandey, SKMC, Muzaffapur
10. Anil Kumar Yadav, Son of Umesh Yadav, DMC, Laheriasarai.
11. Astha Raj, Son of Raj Kishore Prasad, IGIMS, Patna.
... ... Respondent/s ======================================================
with Letters Patent Appeal No. 1077 of 2017 In Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.17708 of 2016 ======================================================
1. The Chairman, Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board IAS Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14
2. The Controller of Examination, Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, IAS Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14
3. Arvind Choudhary, The Then Controller of Examination, BCECEB, I.A.S.
Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14.
... ... Appellant/s Versus
1. Adhishree, D/o Anil Kumar Tiwari, C/o Shri B.N. Tiwari, Behind Sanjay Cinema, Brahmapura (New Colony), P.S.-Brahampura, Post- MIT, District-
Muzaffarpur
2. The Union of India through the Secretary, Ministry of Health, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
3. The Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, Education Centre-2, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, Delhi
4. The Secretary, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
5. The Director General, Directorate General of Health Services, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
6. The Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of Bihar, New Secretariat, Patna, Bihar
7. Medical Council of India, Pocket 14, Sector-8, Dwarka, New Delhi, through its Chairman.
8. Akbar Kabir, Son of Humayun Kabir, SKMC, Muzaffarpur
9. Rishu Kumar, Son of Pappu Kumar Pandey, SKMC, Muzaffapur
10. Anil Kumar Yadav, Son of Umesh Yadav, DMC, Laheriasarai.
11. Astha Raj, Son of Raj Kishore Prasad, IGIMS, Patna ... ... Respondent/s ======================================================
Appearance :
(In Letters Patent Appeal No. 1369 of 2017)
For the Appellant/s : Mr.Deepak Kumar Sinha, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr.Gopal Govind Mishra, Advocate Mr. P.K. Shahi, Advocate General Dr. K.N. Singh, ASG Mr. Kumar Priya Ranjan, Advocate Mr. Kumar Brijnandan, Advocate Mr. Prasoon Sinha, Advocate Mr. Vinay Krishna Tripathy, Advocate Mr. Binodanand Mishra, Advocate Mr. Mritunjay Kumar, Advocate (In Letters Patent Appeal No. 1075 of 2017)
For the Appellant/s : Mr. P.K.Shahi, A.G.
Mr. Prasoon Sinha, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr. S.D. Yadav-AAG-9 Mr. B.B. Mishra, A.C. to AAG-9 Dr. K.N. Singh, ASG Mr. Kumar Priya Ranjan, CGC Mr. Ansul, Advocate Mr. Anuj Kumar, Advocate Mr. Kumar Brijnandan, Advocate (In Letters Patent Appeal No. 1076 of 2017)
For the Appellant/s : Mr. P.K. Shahi, Advocate General Mr. Prasoon Sinha, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr. Suryadeo Yadav, AAG-9 Mr. Prem Ranjan Kumar, A.C. to AAG-9 Dr. K.N. Singh, ASG Mr. Kumar Priya Ranjan, CGC Mr. Anuj Kumar, Advocate Mr. Ansul, Advocate Mr. Kumar Brijnandan, Advocate (In Letters Patent Appeal No. 1077 of 2017)
For the Appellant/s : Mr. P.K. Shahi, Advocate General Mr. Prasoon Sinha, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr. Suryadeo Yadav-AAG-9 Mr. B.B. Mishra, A.C. to AAG-9 Dr. K.N. Singh, ASG Mr. Kumar Priya Ranjan, CGC Mr. Anuj Kumar, Advocate Mr. Ansul, Advocate ======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PARTHA SARTHY
CAV JUDGMENT
(Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE)
Date : 03-07-2023 Medicine as a career option stands out from others; desired equally by the parents and their wards. Out of the various disciplines, MBBS occupies the place of pride and the jostling to procure admission has resulted in the Courts of this land having spent considerable time in examining the nuances of selection to ensure fairness, transparency and equality as also avoid, illegality, arbitrariness and colourable exercise of power. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has time and again held that in no case can merit be compromised and rendered a casualty. It is in the backdrop of the principles enunciated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court that the alternate/substitute remedy of compensation granted in the above cases by the learned Single Judge, to the disappointed candidates who were the petitioners in the writ petitions, has to be considered in the appeals filed by the Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board, which carried out the admissions under challenge, on the directions issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. 2. Bereft of the unnecessary details, it has to be noticed that the admissions were for the academic year 2016-17, carried out to the MBBS/BDS seats all over the country through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test [NEET (UG)-2016] conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Examination, the results of which were published on 16.08.2016.
3. The writ petitioners, who are the first respondents in the various appeals, were found eligible for counselling to the 85% State quota seats and 15% All India Quota (AIQ) seats. The petitioners, all of them, obtained admission to the BDS course for the academic year, after which selection certain seats in the AIQ remained vacant. The States were carrying on counselling for admissions to the unfilled AIQ seats reverted to the State quota; when an application was filed by certain candidates before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court passed two orders, dated 03.10.2016 and 06.10.2016; the first of which directed the States not to fill up the unfilled seats reverted from the AIQ and the second, directed the State authority to fill up such vacant seats remaining unfilled, from the AIQ. The period granted for filling up such vacancies from the AIQ was a single day; i.e. 07.10.2016. The petitioners appeared for counselling, but they were denied admission. From those who were admitted, the petitioners impleaded four persons who obtained lesser marks than the petitioners. We extract the tabular form of the merit-
wise position, as found in the impugned judgment: -
| All India Ranking | Name | Status of Party |
| 13172 | Manisha Gaurav | Petitioner in CWJC No. 19135 of 2016 |
| 13351 | Adhishree | Petitioner in CWJC No. 17708 of 2016 |
| 13826 | Akbar Kabir | Respondent No. 10 (in all cases) |
| 14003 | Rishu Kumar | Respondent No. 11 (in all cases) |
| 14212 | Gul Afshan Naz | Petitioner in CWJC No. 388 of 2017 |
| 14439 | Dipty Preyasi | Petitioner in CWJC No. 19183 of 2016 |
| 14747 | Anil Kumar Yadav | Respondent No. 12 (in all cases) |
| 14766 | Astha Raj | Respondent No. 13 (in all cases) |
4. From the above, it is clear that two petitioners, if permitted counselling would have obtained the first two of the four seats, and the other two petitioners would not have been admitted at all. Referring to the petitioners by their names, Manisha Gaurav and Adhishree obtained ranks above the last four candidates admitted in the counselling conducted on 07.10.2016. The ranks of Gul Afshan Naz and Dipty Preyasi were above the ranks obtained by the Respondent Nos. 12 & 13 but below that obtained by respondents 10 & 11. 5. By the impugned judgment, Manisha Gaurav and Adhishree were found to have been illegally denied admission to the MBBS course and were hence granted Rs. 20 lacs each as compensation. Gul Afshan Naz was found to have approached the Court only after three months. Finding the delay to be gross insofar as the Hon’ble Supreme Court having stipu
