CHARUTAR AROGYA MANDAL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted. Heard.

(2.) The appellant Society runs Pramukh Swami Medical College in the State of Gujarat, which is an unaided college with a sanctioned intake of 100 students for MBBS Course. As per the provisions of the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Colleges or Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Act, 2007 ('Act' for short), 75% of the sanctioned seats in unaided colleges are 'Government Seats' and remaining 25% are 'management seats'. The 25% management quota has two components -15% earmarked as NRI seats and 10% as management seats. In this appeal, we are concerned with the filling of the ten per cent management seats. The Act requires the said ten per cent. management seats to be filled by the college management on the basis of inter se merit list of students to be admitted against the management seats. The Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Courses (Regulation of Admission and Payment of Fees) Rules, 2009 ('Rules' for short) require all the ten percent management seats in all the unaided colleges to be filled by a Consortium (that is, an Association of Unaided Colleges/Institutions formed to facilitate admission to management seats) by adopting a single window system on the basis of inter se merit list of candidates whose names appear in the merit list prepared by the Admission Committee.

(3.) The appellant decided to allot all its ten per cent management seats to deserving meritorious poor students who cannot pursue MBBS Course due to financial constraints. It therefore formulated a scheme for admission of meritorious economically weaker section students whose annual family income was not more than Rs.2 lakhs, and who had secured a minimum of 80% marks (or 75% marks as decided by the appellant) in the 12th standard Examination in Science Stream and the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GUJCET). The admissions would be strictly in the order of inter se merit. The selected students are required to pay only a token fee of Rs.5,000/- per annum (as against the normal fee of Rs. four lakhs for management seats fixed by the Fee Regulatory Committee). The balance tuition fee of Rs.3.95 lakhs is given as a 'scholarship', either by the college and/or any philanthropic organization. The students so admitted will be provided free boarding and lodging, free selected books, free dissection sets etc. The students admitted under the scheme will have to give an undertaking that he/she would render remunerated services in rural area for at least three years from the date he/she graduates. The admissions under the said scheme will be subjected to a four level scrutiny including a personal surprise visit to the house of the aspiring student to confirm the annual income of the family of the appellant and to ensure the bona fides of the applicants. The appellant-college adopted and implemented the said scheme of admissions for filling up ten per cent. management seats for the academic year 2008-2009.