BHARTI BALA Vs. GURU NANAK DEV UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In response to an advertisement issued in October, 1991, inviting applications for admission to Diploma course in Pharmacy for the session 1991-92 in the three State Medical Colleges in the State of Punjab at Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot, the petitioner applied for admission to the said course against seats reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. She took the entrance examination and was placed at serial No. 2 of the merit list of the reserved category of the Scheduled Caste candidates. The petitioner had passed the Intermediate Science Examination conducted by Bihar Intermediate Education Council, Patna, in the month of June, 1991.

(2.) The candidates are required to produce eligibility/equivalence certificate before they are actually admitted to the course. It is the concerned university to which the college is affiliated, that issues such a certificate as to whether an examination passed by a particular candidate is equivalent to the qualifications required for the course. Since there was some doubt about the equivalence of the petitioner's qualifications for making her eligible for admission to the course in question, Principal of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, wrote a letter on 20.1.1992 to the Punjabi University, Patiala (to which the college is affiliated) as to whether the qualifications of the petitioner were equivalent for making her eligible for the admission to the course. The Punjabi University wrote back on 21.1.1992 to the Principal as follows :-

(3.) An enquiry was conducted by the college authorities regarding the genuineness of the certificate. A letter was received by the Principal of the college dated 8th of July, 1992 allegedly written by Sh. Baldev Jha, the Acting Principal of the Mithapore Degree College, Patna, wherein it was stated that the college leaving certificate and the character certificate sent by the college authorities which had been produced by the petitioner before the said authorities were fake ones and were not issued by the Mithapore College. The Committee which was enquiring into the matter asked the petitioner to file an affidavit after being confronted with the letter of Sh. Baldev Jha dated 8th of July, 1992. She filed an affidavit on 28th of November, 1992 enclosing along with the said affidavit a letter received through fax from Dr. Sant Kumar, Principal Mithapore Degree College dated 24th of November, 1992, addressed to the Principal, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, which reads as under :-