JUDGMENT : (Per Sri Manoj Kumar Gupta, C.J.)

1. A common question which arises for consideration in the present batch of writ petitions is whether the admissions granted to students in AYUSH undergraduate courses during the academic year 2019-20 by various private colleges, bypassing the counseling process based on the result of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), could be regularized; and whether the provisional registration granted to the students by the University on basis of interim orders passed in writ petitions filed by the colleges / students can be held to be valid, so as to entitle such students, who have pursued their courses for all these years, to appear in the final examinations, and in cases where they have already appeared, to have their results declared.

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2. Broadly, there are two sets of writ petitions. The one is by the individual colleges, wherein the colleges have either challenged the Notification dated 03.01.2019 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) providing that all admissions in AYUSH courses shall mandatorily be made through the merit list of NEET (UG)-2019, in view of the amendments made in the Regulations by the Central Council of Indian Medicine with the previous sanction of the Central Government by Notification dated 7th December, 2018, or have sought a mandamus to permit such students to appear in the professional examinations in different years.

3. The other set of petitions is by the students seeking a mandamus to the respondents to declare their results of the final examination of B.A.M.S. course and/or to permit them to appear in different professional examinations, thereby, enabling them to complete their B.A.M.S. course, and / or to declare their results and issue marksheets to them and / or to quash the order passed by the University cancelling their temporary registration for the course.

4. In some cases, interlocutory applications have also been filed seeking different reliefs which, in pith and substance, are essentially for grant of permission to complete different stages of the course.

5. The brief facts are that by Notification dated 07.12.2018, the Central Council of Indian Medicine introduced the Indian Medicine Central Council (Minimum Standards of Education in Indian Medicine) Amendment Regulations, 2018. By Regulation 2(d), it was provided that there shall be a uniform entrance examination for all medical institutions for admission to undergraduate courses in each academic year, to be conducted by an authority designated by the Central Government. The said Regulations were challenged by various colleges before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The writ petitions were dismissed by judgment date 18.12.2019. Aggrieved thereby, the colleges filed Special Leave Petitions before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided the controversy by judgment dated 20.02.2020 in Union of India vs. Federation of Self-Financed Ayurvedic Colleges Punjab and others, reported in (2020) 12 SCC 115. The Supreme Court held that Section 22 of the Indian Medicines Central Council Act, 1970, which empowers the Central Council to prescribe minimum standards of education in Indian Medicine, is wide enough to enable the Council to provide for NEET examination and, accordingly, the amendments made in the Regulations, making provisions for admission through NEET examination, were upheld. While so holding, the Supreme Court, considering the fact that a large number of seats had remained vacant in various private colleges, even after final round of counseling, and that the colleges had admitted students on the strength of interim orders passed by the High Courts, permitted such students to pursue their courses, provided they were admitted prior to the last date of admission i.e. 15th October, 2019. The Supreme Court clarified that the relaxation granted by it was a one-time measure and would not be