P K GOEL Vs. U P MEDICAL COUNCIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution challenge has been made to the guidelines issued by the University of Lucknow for the Post--Graduate Medical Entrance Examination held on 12-11992 providing for a merit list for each college out of the institutional candidates of that college. There are seven medical colleges in the State of Uttar Pradesh at Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Allahabad, Meerut, Jhansi and Gorakhpur. A combined entrance examination for admission in Post-Graduate Medical Courses for all the seven medical colleges has been held by the University of Lucknow. Though, a combind entrance examination was conducted for all the seven medical colleges, the seats are filled according to the admission rules on the basis of a merit list prepared for each college out of the institutional candidates of that college. The clause (G)(ii) under challenge reads as under:-

(2.) The information brochure issued by the University defines Institutional candidate and Institutional seats as under.-

(3.) The petitioners who had appeared in the above Entrance Examination have challenged the above rule on the ground of discrimination and violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. The case of the petitioners is that in pursuance to the directions of this Hon'ble Court in Dr. Dinesh Kumar v. Motilal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad, AIR 1986 SC 1877, 25% of the total number of seats for Post-Graduate Courses are filled up on the basis of All India Entrance Examination and the remaining 75% by holding a State level Entrance Examination. In almost all the States in India the 75% seats for Post-Graduate Medical Courses are filled up by holding one common State level examination and a combined merit list is prepared for all the medical colleges in the State. According to the petitioners the above rule is followed in almost all the States including the States of Orissa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Punjab and Haryana. It is only the State of Uttar Pradesh which is admitting students for PostGraduate Medical Courses on the basis of a merit list prepared for each college out of the institutional candidates of that college. Thus, the State of Uttar Pradesh is not preparing a combined merit list for the whole State - in spite of the examination being conducted by the same Lucknow University.