BIBHUTI PRASSAN SINHA Vs. STATE OF M.P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONERS by this writ petition have prayed to declare by appropriate writ or order or direction that the State Government has no power to waive or dispense with the requirement of obtaining minimum qualifying marks in the Competitive Post Graduate Entrance Examination for admission to the Post Graduate Course (MD/MS). They have also prayed that the respondents be directed to consider the cases of only those candidates for admission to Post Graduate Course (MD/MS) who have secured minimum fifty percent marks in the Competitive Post Graduate Entrance Examination conducted by the Professional Examination Board irrespective of the fact whether they belong to reserved category or not.

(2.) THE petitioners are students who have passed MBBS examination. They have sought admission to the Post Graduate Medical Courses in MD/MS and Post Graduate Dental Course. The State of Madhya Pradesh invited applications for admission to the aforementioned course under the rules known as Madhya Pradesh State Entrance Examination Rules 1997 vide advertisement dated 14th November 1996 in the Rojgar Nirman. Certain seats are reserved for General category candidates and for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes O.B.C. and in -service candidates. It is not necessary for us to go into the matter of distribution of seats and other related matters because the only controversy which arises in this petition is that the State Government while issuing the rules regulating admissions to these Post Graduate courses, known as 'Madhya Pradesh Medical and Dental Postgraduate Entrance Examination Rules 1997' has not laid down any minimum qualification for admission either for general category or for the reserved categories. In the present petition, we are not concerned with General Category because there is no challenge to this. However, challenge is that by virtue of not laying down minimum qualification for admissions against reserved seats, a great discrimination has been caused and it is in complete violation of the law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dr. Sadhna Devi and others v. State of U.P. and others (JT 1997 (3) SC 255).

(3.) IT is an admitted position that in the Rules of 1997 and the earlier Rules of 1995, there was no provision prescribing minimum marks for admission to the Post -graduate Medical Courses either for General Category or for the reserved categories. The admissions were taking placed in terms of the aforesaid Rules in the State of M.P. but the difficulty has arisen on account of recent decision given by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Dr. Sadhna Devi and others (supra) dated 19.2.1997 wherein the notification issued by the State of U.P. dispensing with the minimum qualifying marks for admission to Post Graduate Medical Courses has been struck down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that minimum qualifying marks should be laid down for admissions to Post -graduate Medical Course. We will refer the above decision at appropriate place. However, so far as the present case is concerned, in order to dispose of the controversy before us, it is confined to four categories namely, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes and the seats reserved for in -service candidates.