Supreme Court of India
DR. SMITHA NATHversusUNION OF INDIA & ORS.
- Citation
- 2009 INSC 842
- Decided
- 26 May 2009
- Disposal
- Disposed off
Holding
The Court ordered an extended second round of All India counseling with a specific schedule and directed all states and Union Territories to comply with the timetable.
Summary
The petitioner, Dr. Smitha Nath, sought judicial intervention to ensure that vacant All India Quota postgraduate medical seats were filled after several states failed to complete their first round of counseling within the prescribed time. The Supreme Court noted that the first round of All India counseling conducted by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) was incomplete because many states did not report the correct number of vacancies. Relying on its earlier order in Dr. Amit Gupta v. Union of India, the Court directed the DGHS to conduct an extended second round of counseling with a detailed timetable, requiring states to submit updated vacancy data and to abide by strict deadlines for seat allotment and joining. The order mandated that the extended counseling be held only at the Delhi centre and that the schedule be posted on the Court’s website. Consequently, the writ petition was disposed after the Court’s directions were issued.
Issues considered
- Whether the DGHS should be directed to conduct an extended second round of All India counseling for postgraduate medical seats due to incomplete vacancy reporting by states.
- Whether the states and Union Territories must comply with a court‑prescribed schedule for reporting vacancies and completing counseling.
Subjects
All India Quotapostgraduate medical seatscounseling scheduleDirector General of Health Servicesstate compliancewrit petitionArticle 32extended counseling
Judgment
[2009] 9 S.C.R. 824
-f
A DR. SMITHA NATH
v.
UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
··(Writ Petition (Civil) No. 216 of 2009)
MAY 26, 2009
B
[MARKANDEY KATJU AND DEEPAK JAIN, JJ.)
Education:
c Admissions to Post..,Graduate medical seats .:... In -, '
Government/Municipal Colleges - All India Counseling -
First round of All India Counseling conducted by Director .;/"
General of Health Services - States and Union Territories not
completing their first round of counseling by Schedule time
D - Resulting in non-~reporting correct number of All India vacant
seats of DGHS - HELD: DGH{: will notify counseling schedule .., "'·
and· conduct extended second round of All India counseling
- States and Union Territories to abide by the Schedule and
to report updated number of vacancies to DGHS as per
Schedule given by the Court. ..
E
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (Civil) No.
216 of 2009.
+ ~
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)
F
Mukul Rohatgi, Ms. lndu Malhotra, Vikram Mehta and Nupur
Kanungo (for Vikas Mehta) for the Petitioner.
I
V. Shekhar, Manjit Singh, AAG, Manish Singhvi, MG,
Aman Ahluwalia, Sudarshan Singh Rawat (for D.S. Mahra) -~
I
G Harikesh Singh (for Kamal Mohan Gupta) Shomila Bakshi (for ..
Kamini 'Jaiswal) Niranjana Singh, Ravindra K Adsure, T. Harish
~
Kumar, Gaurav Sharma, Sumeet Bhatia, Abhinav Mukherji (for
Pratibha M. Singh) Mohit Kumar Shah (for Gopal Singh) Riku
H 824
SMITHA NATH v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 825
~
Sarrna (for Corporate Law Group) B.B. Singh, Hemantika Wahi, A
Tara Chandra Sharma, Subhashini, A.P. Mayee, V.G.
Pragasam and N.I. Suji (for Milind Kumar) for the Respondents.
The following Order of the Court was deliverec;I
B
ORDER
1. The Application for impleadment is allowed.
2. Heard learned counsel for the parties.
c
3. On 13.1.2009, exam was conducted by AllMS for 50%
post graduate medical seats for all government/municipal
~ colleges in India (except for the government medical Colleges
in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir). The
First Round of Counseling for these seats ended on 16.3.2009,
D
which was conduced by Director General of Health Services
..... ~ (DGHS). Thereafter, the States and Uts commenced theirfirst
round of counseling which was to be completed by 10.4.2009.
4. However, most States did not complete their first round
of counseling in time. The 2nd Round of All India Counseling E
by DGHS was conducted between 22.4.2009 and 8.5.2009.
This, however, Was incomplete since all the States/UTs did not
~
report the correct number of All India Vacant Seats after the
,., first round of State counseling in time.
F
5. We have persued the Order dated 2.5.2008 ~assed by
this Court in the case of Dr.Amit Gupta and Others vs. Union
of India and Others in I.A. No.17 of 2008 in W.P.(C) No.157 of
2005, where in similar circumstances this Court had directed
an extended 2nd Round of All India Counseling to fill up those G
--i. seats which could not be included in the Original 2nd Round of
counseling.
6. In such circumstances, we direct that an extended 2nd
Round of Counseling be conducted to fill up the seats which
could not be filled up in the Original 2nd round of counseling H
826 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2009] 9 S.C.R.
-J>.
A due to incomplete information furnished by the States at the
time when_the 2nd Round of Counseling was conducted. All the
States and UTs shall abide by the following schedule for the
extended 2nd Round of counseling.
B Date Particulms
27th May, 2009 Counseling Schedule to be
notified by DGHS
28th May, 2009 All States must report updated
c number of vacancies resulting
'
from non-joining, resigning and
surrender of seats in All India
Quota to the DGHS by 5 p.m. on
29th May, 2009:
""
D
30th May, 2009 Total number of vacancies to be ,_
notified by DGHS •
Date Particulars
E _31st May, 2009 to Extended 2nd round,of
08th June, 2009 counseling to be conducted by
DGHS at Delhi Centre
_.,.
13th June, 2009 Students to join allotted college ~
F within 5 days of allotment (i.e.) last
date for students to join allotted
college is 13.th June, 2009.
14th June, 2009 Vacant All India Quota seats mat
be deemed to be surrendered to
G the States on 14th June, 2009 ~ '
20th June, 2009 Final deadline for students to.join
allotted course. Before this date
all States should complete their
H 2nd Round of counseling.
SMITHA NATH v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 827
7. We further direct that Counseling will be only in the Delhi A
Centre.
8. This order will be placed on the websites immediately.
Copy of this order shall be given to all the parties today itself.
9. The Writ Petition is disposed of in the above terms.
B
R.P. Writ Petition disposed of.
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