DOLLY DEVENDRAKUMAR SHAH Vs. STATE OF M P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India by the petitioner, who was admitted in the Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, for the M. B. B. S. Course vide Annexure R-IV dated 26th March 1981, and, subsequently, was expelled vide order dated 27th November 1981 (Annexure P-6), for quashing of this order (Annexure P-6).

(2.) The essential facts leading to the present petition and necessary for its decision are these : The petitioner was selected as a Scheduled Caste candidate and was admitted as such for the study of M. B. B. S. Course in the Gajra Raja Medical College at Gwalior vide Annexure R- IV dated 26-3-1981, Thereafter, on the complaint of some one, the Collector, Hoshangabad, made an enquiry on the question whether the petitioner, in fact, belongs to the Scheduled Caste- 'Khatik' -or not On this enquiry, of which the petitioner had no notice, the Collector, Hoshangabad, found that the petitioner does not belong to the Scheduled Caste. On the basis of this report, the Dean, G. R. Medical College, Gwalior, vide Annexure P-6, was intimated that the petitioner be expelled from the College in case she had obtained the admission on the basis of her being a Scheduled Caste candidate, as, as per the enquiry report of the Collector, Hoshangabad, she has been found to be not belonging to the Scheduled Caste- 'Khatik'. The Vice- Dean of the Medical College, accordingly, expelled the petitioner, as is indicated by his order on the back of Annexure P-6 itself.

(3.) The order (Annexure P-6) expelling the petitioner has been challenged on various grounds raised in the petition. Although the grounds raised in the petition, supplemented by a rejoinder, are quite populous, the learned counsel for the petitioner had planned down to the proposition that the order (Annexure P-6) is bad in law on the solitary ground that it has been passed in violation of the principles of natural justice. His submission had been that the foundation of the order (Annexure P-6) is the report of the Collector, which is Annexure R-VII, and that has, admittedly, been passed on an enquiry, that was made behind the back of the petitioner, inasmuch as the petitioner had no notice thereof.