AMISHA NAGPAUL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this batch of writ petitions, the legality of the Prospectus prescribing "Oriya" as a subject in the Entrance Test and further prescribing fifty per cent of the marks in Oriya to be secured in order to be eligible to be considered for admission to the M.B.B.S. Course is the point in issue. The petitioners in O.J. Cs. Nos. 2586, 2893, 3054, 3266 and 3537 of 1986 had appeared at the Entrance Test held for the academic session 1986-87 and petitioners in O.J.C. No. 2662 of 1987 have appeared at the Entrance Test that has been held during this year, but the results have not yet been declared. It is the common case of the petitioners in all these writ petitions that the admission to the M.B.B.S. Course in three different Colleges in the State as well as the M.B.B.S. Course in Government Medical Colleges including the Dental Wing of the S.C.B. Medical College is made through an Entrance Test. For that purpose every year a prospectus is issued. Para 8 of the Prospectus deals with the Entrance Examination. Para 8.7 provides :-

(2.) In the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the opposite parties, a stand has been taken that the Indian Medical Council, no doubt, has recommended the subjects to be examined at the Entrance Examination for admission to the M.B.B.S. Course, but that does not take away the power of the State Government to prescribe any additional subject in which the Entrance Test may also be held. It has been further asserted that since Oriya has been declared as the official language of the State with effect from 1-4-1985 and it is the only spoken language of the people of the State, it is essential for every medical student to have dialogue with the patients to understand their problems and for that purpose, the Government thought it fit to have a test in Oriya also and accordingly such prescription cannot be held to be arbitrary or irrational.

(3.) The short question which arises for consideration, therefore, is as to whether prescribing "Oriya" as a subject in the Entrance Test for admission to the M.B.B.S. Course in the three medical colleges of the State obviously for assessing the individual merit can be said to have any reasonable nexus with the object to be achieved. It is too well known that in a State where there is more than one medical college and there is more than one University from which students usually obtain their minimum qualification for being entitled to be admitted to the M.B.B.S. Course, it is not possible to have their relative merits on the basis of the marks obtained by them in the University Examination, inasmuch as the standard of examination and valuation of answer papers varies from one University to the other. There cannot be a second opinion on the point that the admission to any institution must be made on the basis of merit. Since it is not possible to assess the relative merit of the students seeking admission on the basis of their respective marks obtained in the University examination as the standard of marking varies from University to University, the Indian Medical Council had suggested that the relative merit could be assessed through an entrance examination and that is how an entrance examination is conducted. Therefore, the prime object of holding an entrance examination is to assess the relative merit of the students seeking admission to the M.B.B.S. Course. As per the Regulation of the Indian Medical Council, the subjects in which the students should be tested in the Entrance Examination are Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English and by for in all States in the country this has been the practice. However, for the first time in the prospectus issued for the academic session 1986-87, the additional subject of "Oriya" in the Entrance Test is introduced. A batch of writ petitions had been filed challenging the legality of the same in this Court which were heard by us. When again the same prescription continued for the academic session 1987-88, the petitioners in O.J.C. No. 2662 of 1987 have challenged the same.