JUNIOR DOCTORS ASSOCIATION Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The validity of Rule 5 of the Assam Medical Colleges (Regulation of Admission to Post Graduate Courses) Rules, 1997 is in question in this writ petition.

(2.) The relevant facts are that the petitioner No. 1 is an association of Junior Doctors of the Assam Medical College and Hospital at Dibrugarh. Petitioner No. 2 is the General Secretary of the Said Association. The petitioners have interest in the admission to the Post Graduate and Diploma Courses in the different medical colleges of Assam. The procedure for such admission has been laid down by a set of executive instructions issued by the Govt. of Assam, known as the Assam Medical Colleges (Regulation of Admission to Post Graduate Courses) Rules, 1997, (for short the 1997 Rules)". Rule 5(i) of the 1997 rules provides that an examination shall be conducted for the purpose of admission to the Post Graduate Degree and Diploma Courses in the Medical Colleges of Assam by the Gauhati University. Rule 5 (ii) further provides that the University authorities will prepare a merit list based on the sum total of the marks obtained in the entrance examination and the percentage of marks obtained in all the three MBBS examinations by each candidate and publish the same in the leading newspapers in the State. It is from such merit list that candidates are to be selected for different cat- egpries of seats for Post Graduate and diploma courses. The case of the petitioners is that such merit list based on the sum total of marks obtained not only in the entrance examination but also on the percentage of marks obtained in all the three MBBS examinations by each candidate cannot control reflect the relative merits of the candidates. According to the petitioners, a merit list should only be prepared or the basis of the marks obtained by the candidates in the entrance examination and the marks obtained by the candidates in the three MBBS examinations should be excluded because the MBBS examinations are conducted not by one University but by different Unversities and the standards far evaluation of the marks in the said MBBS examinations by different Universities are different.

(3.) At the hearing Mr. N.Dutta, learned counsel for the petitioners referred to the recommendation of the Medical Council off India to the effect that admission to Post Graduate courses can be made on the basis of academic merit as determined from the performance of the candidates at the MBBS examinations provided they all come from the one University. Mr Dutta explained that where all the candidates seeking admission to Post Graduate Courses have taken MBBS examination of one University, then only the performance of the candidates in such MBBS examination can be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining their merit for their selection for Post Graduate Courses. But where candidates seeking admission to the post Graduate Courses came from different Universities and have taken MBBS examinations conducted by different universities, their performance in the MBBS. Examinations should not be taken into consideration at all for the purpose of determining their interese merit and selection for post Graduate Courses. Mr. Dutta also referred to paragraph- 7 of the writ petition in which it has been stated that in the year 1994 the candidates who stood 1st,2nd and 3rd position in the final MBBS examination from Gauhati University secured 1374, 1371 and 1367 marks in aggregate respectively, whereas the candidates who stood 1st, 2nd and 3nd in the final MBBS examination from the Dibrugarh University could secure only 1187, 1185, 1180 marks in aggregate respectively. Mr Dutta explained that the aforesaid figures would show different standards adopted by the Gauhati University and the Dibrugarh University in evaluating the performance of candidates in the MBBS examinations and in the absence of any common standard of evaluation it is discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution to judge the merit of candidates coming from different Universities on the basis of their performance in the MBBS examinations conducted by the different Universities. Mr Dutta relied on the observation of the Supreme Court in the case of Dr. Dinesh Kumar & Ors. Vs. Motilal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad and Ors reported in AIR 1985 SC 1059 to the effect that the standard of judging at different qualifying examinations held by different Universities is not uniform and that some Universities may be liberal in marking and while others very strict and therefore there will be no common standard on the basis of which the relative merits of the candidates can be judged. In the said judgment, the Apex Court further held that it would be wholly unjust to grant admissions to students by assessing their relative merits with reference to the marks obtained by them not at the same qualifying examination but at different qualifying examinations held by different State Governments or Universities and any selection based on such different qualifying examinations would indeed be blatantly violative of the concept of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution.