SUBASH MOHAN JALALI Vs. PRINCIPAL, MEDICAL COLLEGE, SRINAGAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners had applied for admission to the Medical College at Srinagar for 1966 -67 session, but having been refused admission to the Medical College, they have preferred the writ petitions challenging the Government Order which constituted the Committee for selecting the candidates as also the selection made by the said Committee on various grounds, which will be discussed in a later part of the judgment.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to these petitions may be briefly summarised thus :

(3.) THE petitioners have assailed the selection of the respondent: candidates on the grounds that they have been selected by the Committee in clear violation of the directions contained in the Government order referred to above. It is also argued that the Government order itself does not lay down any objective criteria for determining the merit of the candidates to be admitted to the Medical College at Srinagar. Finally, it was averred that the Government order was itself in direct contravention of the Regulations framed under the Indian Medical Council Act. It was also submitted that selection of the candidates was patently discriminatory and violative of the provisions of Articles 14 and 29 of the Constitution of India. It was also urged that the interview held by the Committee was merely a farce because the candidates were interviewed for only two to three minutes and no questions to assess their merit were at all put to them. Some of the petitioners also contended that the Selection Committee went to the extent of selecting some candidates who were below 17 years of age which was directly opposed to the prospectus of the college and the Notification issued by the Principal Medical College Srinagar and the Statutes of the University. It was also contended by the petitioners that the experts Dr Tyagi and Dr. Naseer co -opted by the Committee did not participate in the interviews held by it in respect of all the candidates.