Holding

The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's interim directions and ordered the State to conduct a fresh postgraduate medical entrance examination in compliance with SRO No. 158.

Summary

The State of Jammu & Kashmir failed to conduct the annual postgraduate medical entrance examination mandated by SRO No. 158 of 1995, instead relying on a five‑year‑old waiting list that disadvantaged MBBS graduates after 1996. Several writ petitions were filed, and the High Court issued interim directions that both halted the fresh examination and allowed higher‑merit candidates to be admitted over those already selected. The Supreme Court held that these interim directions contravened SRO No. 158 and could not be sustained. It set aside both directions, ordered the competent authority to hold a fresh entrance examination within two months in accordance with SRO No. 158, and affirmed that all eligible candidates may participate and that reservation rules must be respected. Existing admissions that have attained final judicial approval were not disturbed.

Issues considered

Whether the High Court's interim directions to stop the fresh entrance examination and to admit higher‑merit candidates over existing admissions violated SRO No. 158.
Whether the waiting list could be continued beyond the one‑month period prescribed by SRO No. 158.
Whether the State is obligated to conduct an annual postgraduate medical entrance examination as per SRO No. 158.
Whether the Supreme Court may direct the consolidation and expedited disposal of pending writ petitions and appeals.

Subjects

postgraduate medical educationentrance examinationwaiting listreservationstatutory compliancewrit petitionSupreme Court directionstate government order

Judgment

DR. VIKRANT PARIHAR A
v.
STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND ORS.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2000

[DR. A.S. ANAND, CJ., DORAISWAMY RAJU B
AND SHIVARAJV. PATIL, JJ.]

Medical courses-State of Jammu and Kashmir-Post Graduate
Entrance Examination conducted in 1995-96-No other entrance examination
held-After select list was issued, such of the unsuccessful candidates, who C
had last participated in 1995 test continued to get selected for admission to
various courses year after year-Consequently candidates who passed MBBS
't examination after 1996 had no chance to compete and pursue Post Graduate
Courses-Writ petition filed by applicant in High Court of J.K.. seeking
enforcement of S.R.O. No. 158 dated 12th July, 1995-Said SR.0. provided D
for holding of entrance examination every year and also prescribed the life
of waiting list to be one month from the date of regular admission-Beside
appellant other candidates also filed a writ petition-As a result of orders
made in both the writ petitions, selections for admission, from amongst the
1995-96 candidates, on the waiting list, were stayed-Consequently State
was required to hold Competitive Entrance Examination to fill seats in Post E
Graduate Courses for J999-2000 Academic Session-Orders passed in both
the writ petitions challenged in Letters Patent Appeals-The Division Bench
"· gave two interim directions (I) the process for holding fresh Entrance
Examination by Competent Authority for vacancies in P.G. Degree/Diploma
Courses be stopped till otherwise directed (2) Candidates possessing higher F
merit than those who had already been admitted against direct and reserved
categories be allowed admission, in case their merit is higher than those who
had already been admitted in the respective disciplines to which the
petitioners have applied-Both these directions impugned before this Court-
Held both the directions cannot be sustained-All the Writ Petitions and
Appeals pending in the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir shall be clubbed G
together and all such cases shall be heard and disposed of within the next
three months-The competent authority shall conduct an entrance
examination for selection of Doctors for admission to Post Graduate Degree
and Diploma Courses on the basis of their merit expeditiously in accordance
with SRO No. 158-All eligible candidates whether in the earlier selection H
179
180 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000] SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A list or not shall be entitled to take part in the said entrance examination--
Rules relating to reservation of seats, to the extent permissible in law and
applicable, shall be respected by the authorities at the time of making
selections and-admissions-These directions shall not be construed as setting •
aside the admissions already granted to candidates.

B CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 4935 of2000.

From the Judgment and Order dated 17.2.2000 of the Jammu & Kashmir
High Court in L.P. A. (SW) No. 34 of2000.

M.L. Verma, D.D. Thakur, Gopal Subramaniam, G.L. Sanghi, N. Ganpathy,
c Rohit Kapur, Sanjeev Puri, M.A. Goni Adv. General for (J.&K), J.A. Kawoosa,
G.M. Kawoosa, Ashok Mathur, E.C. Agrawala, Rishi Agrawala, Mahesh
Agrawala, Vivek Yadav, N.N. Bhatt, Ms. Pumima Bhat Kak, Ashwani Kumar,
Sumeet Lal, A. V. Palli, Ms. Rekha Palli, Atul Sharma, Rajiv Talwar, L. Nageshwar
-
..
i
Rao, Ramesh Babu M.R., Ms.Shabnam Lone and M.N. Shroff for the appearing
parties.
D
The following Order of the Court was delivered :

Leave granted.

Impleadment and Intervention Applications are allowed.
E
This case presents a rather disturbing picture. Last Post Graduate l=
entrance examination for admission.to various medical courses in the State of
Jummu & Kashmir was held on 31st December, 1995 and I st January, 1996.
It is an admitted case of the parties that after that examination, no other
entrance examination has been held till date. After the select list was issued,
F such of the .unsuccessful candidates, who had last participated in the 1995
.Post Graduate Medical Entrance Examination, continued to get se.lected for
admission to various courses year after year. As a consequence, all such
candidates who passed their MBBS examinations after 1996, have had no
chance to compete and pursue post graduate courses in various disciplines
G of medicine. According to Mr. M.A. Goni, learned Advocate General for the
State of Jammu & Kashmir this situation has arisen mostly because of interim
or final orders issued by various Benches of the High Court at the instance
of the candidates who had participated in the 1995-96 entrance examination.

The appellant herein filed a writ petition in the High Court of Jammu &
H Kashmir at Jammu, seeking enforcement/strict compliance with SRO No. 158 .,_
DR. VIKRANT PARIHAR v. STATE 181

dated 12th July, 1995, which inter alia was issued by the State Government A
to regulate admission to Post Graduate Degree and Diploma courses in various
government Medical Colleges in the State. SRO 158 inter alia provides for
holding of an entrance examination every year and prescribes the life of the
waiting list to be one month from the date of regular admission. It is the case
of the appellant that annual entrance examination has not been held since B
1995-96 and the waiting list has been operated from 1997 till date to the
detriment of the candidates who passed their MBBS examinations between
1996 and 2000. Besides the appellant some other candidates also filed a writ
petition in the Srinagar wing of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir making
similar allegations and seeking almost identical relief.

On 3rd November, 1999 following order came to be made by the learned
c
Single Judge in the Srinagar wing of the High Court in the writ petition filed
there:

"Admission of the candidates notified vide Annexure K&K- I will be
subject to outcome of writ petition. Further selection on the basis of D
examination said to have been conducted in the year 1995 shall be
stayed till next date before the Bench."

In the Jammu wing of the High Court, an interim order came to be made
on 30th December, 1999 in which, inter alia, it was directed that the State and
its functionaries shall not fill up any of the seats of Post Graduate/Diploma E
courses of 1999-2000 academic session, except by those who come on the
basis of the ensuing competitive entrance examination. As a result of the
aforesaid order made at Srinagar and Jammu by the learned Single Judges,
selections for admission, from amongst the 1995-96 candidates, on the waiting
list, were stayed. The State was required to hold competitive entrance F
examination to fill the seats in post graduate courses for 1999-2000 academic
session. Both these orders were put in issue through Letters Patent Appeals.
The appeals were admitted and by way of interim directions, following order
was made:

(1) The process for holding fresh Entrance Examination by G
Competent Authority for vacancies in P.G. Degree/Diploma
Courses be stopped till otherwise directed.

(2) Candidates possessing higher merit than those who had already
been admitted against direct and reserved categories be allowed
admission, in case their merit is higher than those who had H
182 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A already been admitted in the respective disciplines to which the
petitioners have applied.

Both these directions have been put in issue in this appeal.

We have heard learned counsel for the parties at length.
B Since, various Writ Petitions and Letter Patent Appeals are pending in
the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir, either at Jammu or at Srinagar and all
those petitions and appeals are concerned with admission to Post Graduate
Medical Courses, we refrain from expressing any opinion on the merits of
those cases. However, we cannot overlook the fact that by interim orders,
C impugned herein, the Division Bench has virtually stalled the holding of
competitive annual entrance examination as mandated by SRO 158 and has
given new lease of life to the five year old waiting list to the prejudice of
graduates of post 1996 era by issuing even a direction to accord admissions
on the basis of that list. Tli.is is not an acceptable situation. It appears that
D on account of some conflicting orders made at interim as well as final stage
by different Benches of the High Court, confusion has been created and
serious dislocation has been caused in according admissions as per rules and
proclaimed norms. The future career of medical graduates has been put at
stake and rendered nebulous. It therefore, appears appropriate to us to direct
that all the Writ Petitions and Letters Patent Appeals, pending in the High
E Court of Jammu & Kashmir, in either of the two wings, shall be clubbed
together and all such cases shall be heard and disposed of by one Division
or larger Bench, to be constituted and assigned for the purpose by Hon'ble
the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir as he deem fit and "
proper. In view of-the exigency of the matter, we request Hon'ble the Chief
justice of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court to constitute a Special Bench as
F indicated above and have the matters posted before that Bench, to be heard
and disposed of as far as possible within the next three months. We are
assured by learned counsel for the parties that no unnecessary adjournments
shall be sought by the parties from the specially constituted Bench and
parties shall take all steps to complete the pleadings as per directions of that
G Bench and to assist the Bench to adhere to the time schedule.
In so far as the impugned directions are concerned, prima facie the first
direction runs in the teeth of SRO No. 158, while the effect of the second
direction is virtually to decide the writ petition itself at the interlocutory stage.
These two directions, under the circumstances, cannot be sustained. We,
H therefore, allow this appeal and set aside both the directions. As a result, any
DR. VIKRANT PARIHAR v. STATE 183
follow up action taken, except to the extent covered or saved by our following A
directions, would also become invalid and inoperative. We, accordingly, direct
as under :

(I) The competent authority shall conduct an entrance examination
for selection of Doctors for admission to Post Graduate Degree
and Diploma Courses in different disciplines in the medical B
colleges in the State of Jammu & Kashmir on the basis of their
merit expeditiously in accordance with SRO No. 158 :
(2) All eligible candidates whether in the earlier selection list or not
shall be entitled to take part in the said entrance examination:
(3) Rules relating to reservation of seats, to the extent permissible C
in law and applicable, shall be respected by the authorities at
the time of making selections and admissions.

We clarify that the above directions shall not be construed as setting
aside ~he admissions already granted to candidates who are pursuing various D
post graduate courses, pursuant to orders made by different Benches of the
High Court or by this Court and the ensuing entrance examination shall be
held to fill the determined vacancies for 1999-2000 academic session for the
postgraduate medical courses (Degrees and Diploma).

Our directions shall also not disturb any order of admission of a E
candidate that has acquired judicial finality, provided such a candidate has
been so admitted and is pursuing his course of post graduate study.

Our first direction to the competent authority to conduct the next
entrance examination shall be faithfully and punctually complied with, not F
withstanding any order or direction made to the contrary by any of the
Benches of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir either in any writ petition
or appeal. The said entrance examination shall be conducted within two
months from the date of this order.

The Advocate General may move the appropriate Bench for modification/ G
vacation of the stay order in regard to operation of SRO 540 in view of the
directions given by us above and as and when such a prayer is made, the
Bench shall pass appropriate orders on its own merits. We express no opinion
on it.

We are unable to accede to the request of Mr. Thakur, learned senior H
184 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2000) SUPP. 3 S.C.R.

A Advocate to confine the next entrance examination to fill vacancies, other
than those of the intervenors, since they have been litigating all this time.
They shall be at liberty to take the next entrance examination, if otherwise
eligible to do so. Academic excellence and not litigative persistence has to
be the criteria for admission to post graduate medical courses.

B Nothing said hereinabove shall, however, be construed as any expression
of opinion on merits of the matters pending in the High Court of Jammu &
Kashmir.

The appeal is disposed of with the above directions. No costs.

C T.N.A. Appeal disposed of.