SMIT RAJPUT Vs. GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PRIOR to the current academic year, the admissions to various Post Graduate courses were being made by, drawing students from two different sources, on the basis of two different entrance examinations, one being the All India Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination in which all the medical graduates from the country were eligible to appear and the other being the medical examination conducted by the respective State where only the students who passed out from the medical colleges within that State were eligible to appear. In terms of Post Graduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2010 (Part-II) and the Post Graduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2012 (Part-I), framed by respondent No. 5-Medical Council of India, a common all India examination called National Eligible-cum-Entrance Test for Post Graduate Courses (NEET-PG), 2012, was conducted by respondent No. 6-National Board of Examinations. The seats in PG Courses are equally divided into two quotas, one known as All India Quota and the other as State Quota. Declaring results for the said examination, respondent No. 6 notified two lists, one for admission under the All India Quota and the other for admission under the State Quota. Admissions against All India Quota can be made only from amongst the candidates whose names appear in the all India merit list, whereas admission against the seats under the State Quota can be made only from amongst candidates whose W.P(C) No. 3952/2013 Page 2 of 55 names appear in the State list of the concerned State. Thus, the admission against State Quota in Delhi can be made only from amongst the candidates whose names appear in the list notified by respondent No. 6 for Delhi. This list contains names of those candidates who passed their MBBS examination from a University/Institute in Delhi.

(2.) THE medical colleges in Delhi, except All India Institute of Medical Sciences, are affiliated to two Universities, i.e., respondent No. 3- University of Delhi and respondent No. 1 Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (hereinafter referred to as "I.P. University")

(3.) THE petitioners before this Court, who passed out MBBS from Delhi University, are aggrieved by their exclusion from the admission to be made by the respondent I.P. University in the State Quota. Based upon the lists of candidates, who qualified in NEET-PG, 2013, Delhi University as well as I.P. University has drawn their own respective lists of the candidates, who are eligible to take admission in their respective Post Graduate Medical courses. The contention of the petitioners before this Court is that their exclusion by the respondent-I.P. University from the list of candidates eligible for admission in the said University under the State quota is unconstitutional, being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution since it defeats the principle of meritocracy and excludes persons who are similarly situated and have passed MBBS from the same State, i.e., Delhi. In fact, the petitioners claim to be more meritorious than many candidates whose names appear in the list of eligible candidates, issued for admission in the PG medical courses of I.P. University. This claim is made on the basis of their comparative rank in the merit list, issued by respondent No. 6-National Board of Examinations. This is also the case of the petitioners that in none of the other States this kind of reservation exists and no distinction by the State is made on the basis of the University from which the candidate passes his MBBS, provided the University from which he passed MBBS is situated in the same State. Yet another contention of the petitioners is that though there are only 88 candidates, who passed MBBS from I.P. University, have qualified for admission to PG seats in the said University, on the basis of their NEET- PG, 2013 score, the number of post graduate seats being 122, I.P. University would have to surrender at least 34 seats from State quota for inclusion in the all India Quota.