MANOJ KUMAR Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ application has been filed with a prayer to quash Clause-F of the Guidelines for allotment of candidates for Post-Graduate (Medical) Courses in the Government Medical Colleges of Odisha (for short, "State Guidelines") under Annexure-1 being ultra vires Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Further prayer of the petitioner is to declare the admission made on the basis of Clause-F of the State Guidelines as void and direct the opposite parties to publish a fresh guideline deleting Clause-F and to re-do the admission to the P.G. (Medical) Course in the Government Colleges of the State of Odisha. Alternatively, it is prayed that the petitioner may be given first preference in the 2nd counseling.

(2.) Petitioner's case in a nut-shell is as follows:

(3.) Mr. G.A.R. Dora, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that merit is the basis for admission to the P.G. (Medical) Courses. Therefore, to exclude the petitioner from consideration on the basis of his merit, the ground that he is not a permanent resident of Odisha would amount to denying him the equal opportunity in the matter of admission to the P.G. (Medical) Courses which is violative of his right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution. The second counseling for balance seats was scheduled to be held on 29th and 30th August, 2013 as per information published in the website under Annexure-2. Though the petitioner belongs to Bihar domicile yet he will not be eligible to take admission in State of Bihar as he has not done MBBS course from any of the Medical Colleges in Bihar as provided under Clause 5.1 of the prospectus of the P.G. (Medical) Admission Counseling Prospectus, 2013 of Bihar. In view of the judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the cases of Dr. Pradeep Jain and others vs. Union of India and others, 1984 3 SCC 654, and Nikhil Himthani vrs. State of Uttarakhand and others in Writ Petition (Civil) No.379 of 2013, Clause-F of the State Guidelines which provides that the candidate who is not a domicile of Odisha State is not eligible for admission into P.G. Course is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. It is further submitted that in a case of exactly similar nature, admission to P.G. Courses was denied to a candidate on the ground that he was not a domicile of the State of Uttarakhand even though he has completed his MBBS Course from a Medical College in Uttarakhand and he was selected against 15% all India quota like the present petitioner. The Hon'ble Supreme Court quashed the domicile clause of the eligibility criteria vide its judgment dated 06.08.2013 passed in Nikhil Himthani and directed the authority to publish a fresh information bulletin and to re-do the admission to the P.G. (Medical) Course.