DR.PRABHAT KUMAR NAYAK Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Advocate General appearing on behalf of Respondents 1 to 4. The petitioner secured admission in 1997 to the M.B.B.S. course in Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, Jamshedpur.

(2.) The institution in question was at the relevant time located in the State of unified Bihar and after re -organization of the State in the year 2000; the institution is now situated in the State of Jharkhand. The petitioner was a resident of the State of Bihar and was admitted to the M.B.B.S. course against the seats reserved for allocation to the wards of defence personnel. He passed the final year M.B.B.S. exam in the year 2002. A prospectus was issued on 23.12.2006 for admission to the Postgraduate course in the Medical Colleges in the State of Bihar (PGMAT 2007) on basis of a competitive examination to be conducted by the Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board. Rule 2 sub -clauses (8) defines 'Bihar ' to mean as existing after the re -organization, as defined under Sec. 4 of the Bihar Re -organization Act. The clause dealing with qualification and eligibility for appearing at the P.G.M.A.T. 2007 stipulated that the candidates may have passed the M.B.B.S. from any medical college of the Bihar State included in the schedule of Medical Council of India. Thereafter, a corrigendum followed on 6.2.2007 modifying the conditions of eligibility. It qualified that such candidates who were permanent residents or domicile of Bihar and had been admitted on the basis of competitive examination conducted on behalf of the Government of Bihar and by C.B.S.E. (under all India quota) before bifurcation of Bihar in Medical Colleges situated in Jharkhand and had obtained the degree of M.B.B.S. were also eligible to appear in the P.G.M.A.T. examination. The examination was held on 18.3.2007. The petitioner was allotted roll no. 11824 as a B.C. (Backward Class) candidate. He was successful and was called for counselling, for which he appeared on 6.6.2007 and was granted provisional admission. Subsequently, he was denied admission and permission to attend course on the ground that he had not secured admission to the M.B.B.S. course in the State of Bihar through a competitive examination when he came to this Court in C.W.J.C. No. 7328 of 2007, which was disposed off with certain directions on 12.6.2007. When he had a grievance that the orders of the Court were not being complied with, he filed M.J.C. No. 1507 of 2007 when orders were appropriately passed dated 27.8.2007 by the Respondents in terms of the earlier order of the writ Court. This led to the dismissal of his contempt application. He now assails the order of rejection of his candidature dated 27.8.2007.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner urged that the petitioner was a domicile of Bihar. Once he got admission through the defence quota in the M.B.B.S. course, he merged into a common stream of students in the M.B.B.S. course. The Respondents subsequently have themselves clarified that a person who had joined a medical college in the erstwhile State of Bihar before re -organization shall be deemed to have passed from the State of Bihar for purposes of P.G.M.A.T. examination. The petitioner fulfills this qualification also. It was next urged that being satisfied with his eligibility the Respondents accepted his application for P.G.M.A.T. examination, allotted him a roll number, permitted him to appear and declared his results and allowed participation in the counseling. At the final stage, he was being debarred now by making a classification from the common stream of M.B.B.S. students with regard to those who may have obtained admission to the M.B.B.S. course on the competitive examination and those who may not have. He urged that this classification is contrary to Article 14 of the Constitution, devoid of any rational with no objective to be achieved and, therefore, was unsustainable in law. He relied upon a judgment of the Supreme Court reported in A.I.R. 1976 Supreme Court 376 (Shri Krishan V/s. The Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra) to submit that once the candidate was allowed to take the examination, rightly or wrongly, the authorities cannot be permitted to withdraw the candidature of the applicant which has already worked itself out and the candidate cannot be refused admission subsequently for any infirmity which was required to be looked into initially. He has also relied upon the notification issued by the State of Jharkhand for admission to the Post Graduate Medical Course which provides that a candidate, who was a resident of Jharkhand and has passed M.B.B.S. Course from Bihar, could also apply for admission. He emphasized that no such restriction/ classification has been made by the State of Jharkhand.