Holding

The eligibility criteria for admission under the 15% All India Quota, as fixed by CBSE and the Medical Council of India, are exclusive and a state cannot impose additional conditions; therefore, the petitioner is entitled to admission.

Summary

Harsh Pratap Sisodia passed his intermediate examination without biology and later cleared biology, subsequently qualifying the All India Pre‑Medical/Pre‑Dental Entrance Examination conducted by CBSE. He was allotted a seat in an MBBS programme under the 15% All India Quota, but the Dean of Dr. V.M. Medical College, Solapur refused admission citing a Maharashtra state rule that the candidate must have passed H.S.C. or its equivalent in a single attempt. The petitioner filed a writ petition under Article 32 challenging the refusal. The Supreme Court held that the eligibility criteria for the 15% All India Quota are fixed by CBSE in consultation with the Medical Council of India and cannot be altered by any state, rendering the college's additional requirement illegal. Consequently, the petition was allowed and the college was directed to admit the petitioner, with attendance to be counted from the date of admission.

Issues considered

Whether the Maharashtra state requirement of passing H.S.C. or its equivalent in a single attempt applies to candidates admitted under the 15% All India Quota.
Whether the eligibility criteria fixed by CBSE, in consultation with the Medical Council of India, have supremacy over state regulations for the All India Quota.
Whether the denial of admission violates the petitioner's constitutional right to enforce a legal right under Article 32 of the Constitution.

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. Article 32

Subjects

All India QuotaMedical admissionEligibility criteriaCBSEMedical Council of IndiaArticle 32State regulationsWrit petitionConstitutional law

Judgment

A HARSH PRATAP SISODIA
v.
UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

FEBRUARY 5, 1999

B [DR. A.S. ANAND CJ. V.N. KJ:IARE AND M. SRINIVASAN, JJ.)

All India Pre-Medical Examination Rules : Code 02 of Rule 4.4 (iii).

Medical Admission-All India Pre-medical/Pre-dental entrance ex-
amination-Eligibility criteria for admission-Under 15% All India
c quota-f'etii'ioner passed his inter-mediate examination-Later on he also
passed his biology subject-He passed in the All India Entrance Examination
conducted by C.B.S.E.-Allotted a seat for admission to M.B.B.S. in a
Medical College in Maharashtra State-Denied admission on the ground that
incumbent must have passed H.S.C. or equivalent exam. in one and the same
D attempt-As he had passed intennediate examination without biology and
then passed biology as a subject he was not eligible for admission as per rule
existing in the State-Writ-Hel~The eligibility criteria for admission to the
medical colleges, throughout the country, under 15% All India Quota does
not show that the candidate must have passed H.S.C. or its equivalent exam
'in one and the same attempt'-The condition imposed by the Maharashtra
E State, for passing the qualifying examination 'in one and the same attempt'
can have no application to the candidates who qualify the entrance examina-
tion against 15% All India Quota-Criteria of eligibility for allotment of seat
to M.B.B.S. against 15% All India Quota has been fixed by the C.B.S.E. in
consultation with the Medical Council of India under a modified scheme
approved by this Court-State cannot fix any additional eligibility criteria in
F cases of candidates who fall under 15% All India Quota-Direction for
admission of petitioner against 15% All India Quota issued.

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (C) No. 588 of
1998.

G (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India)

Shree pal Singh for the Petitioner.

D.M. Nargolkar for the Respondent.

H P. N. Mishra, S.WA. Quadri, Ms. Sushma Suri and Ms. Neena Gupta
466
r-
H.P. SISODIA v. U.0.1. 467

for Union of India. A

- The following Order of the Court was delivered :

The petitioner passed his Intermediate Examination conducted by
the Board of High School and Intermediate Education, U.P. and sub-
sequently appeared in the All India Pre-MedicaVPre-Dental Entrance B
Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. The
petitioner qualified in the entrance examination and was informed vide
communication dated 10-7-1998 that allotments to medical colleges wquld
be made by the Directorate General of Health Services. Later on, the
petitioner was informed by the Assistant Director General, Health Services C
on 14-9-1998 that he had been allotted a seat for admission to MBBS at
Dr. V.M. Medical College, Solapur. On being approached, the College,
however, on 28-9-1998, refused admission to the petitioner. The Assistant
Director General, Health Services, on being so apprised by the petitioner,
wrote to the Medical College at Solapur on 7- 10-1998, advising them to
admit the petitioner who had qualified in the entrance test against 15% All D
India Quota. The College, however, expressed its inability to do so on 13th
October, 1998. The request of the petitioner to the Assistant Director
General, Health Services to secure him admission in any other College also
bore no fruit. The petitioner thereupon has filed this writ petition.
E
While counters have been filed by respondent Nos. 1 and 2, respon-
dent Nos. 3, 4 and 5, namely, the State of Maharashtra, the Directorate of
Medical Education and Research, Mumbai and Dr. V.M. Medical College,
Solapur have not filed their counters or response till date in spite of
opportunities granted to them for the purpose.
F
We have heard learned counsel for the parties.

The Dean, Dr. V.M. Medical College, respondent No. 5 refused to
admit the petitioner, who had qualified in the entrance test for admission
.... against the 15% All India Quota. The reasons for refusal are contained in G
the communication dated 28-9-1998 from the Dean to the Asstt. Director
General of Health Services. The relevant portion of the letter reads thus :

"... Mr. Sisodia had passed Intermediate Examination of U.P.
Board in the year July, 1993 without Biology. Subsequently, he had
passed Biology as his subject at intermediate Board in the year H
_,
468 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1999] 1 S.C.R.

A July, 1994 and secured 56 marks. ,.
As per rules existing in this State, incumbent must have passed
H.S.C. or equivalent exam. in one and the same attempt. Please
refer Rule 4.4 for eligibility for the MBBS admission. This incum-
....
-
bent does not fulfil the condition prescribed under the Rule for
B 'eligibility..II

The eligibility. criteria for admission to the medical colleges,
throughout the country, under 15% All India Quota, as stipulated by Rule
..
4.4 of CBSE (information bulletin of 1998) does not show that there is any
such requirement as was being raised by the Dean of the Medical College
c i.e. that the candidate must have passed H.S.C. or its equivalent exam 'in
one and the same attempt'. The petitioner had passed his intermediate
examination in first division. Later on he also passed the' Biology subject
in 1994. The petitioner, thus, satisfied the requirements prescribed by Code
02 of Rule 4.4 (iii) of the All India Pre-Medical Examination Rules. The
D condition imposed by the Maharashtra State, for passing the qualifying
examination 'in one and the same attempt' can have no application to the
candidates who qualify the entrance examination against 15% All India
Quota and are allotted a seat in the MBBS against that quota to a medical
college.
E It is not disputed that the criteria of eligibility for allotment of seat
to MBBS against 15% All India Quota has been fixed by the CBSE in
consultation with the Medical Council of India under a modified scheme
approved by this Court. Under that scheme the States and Colleges, cannot
insist upon, satisfaction of the "State requirements" as a condition to grant
F admission to the allottees against 15% All India Quota. It is, ther~fori-:, not
open to any State to fix any additional eligibility criteria in cases of
c!llldidates who fall under 15% All India Quota. The eligibility criteria
having been approved by this Court it could not be ignored by the Dean,
Medical College, Solapur. The denial of admission to the petitioner was
thus wholly illegal and unjustified. Consequently, this writ petition succeeds
G and is allowed. The Dean, V.M. Medical College, Solapur is, hereby, "
directed to grant admission to the petitioner in the First Year of M.B.B.S.
course under 15% All India Quota forthwith. ~

Since, the petitioner was kept out of the College, on wholly unjus-
H tified and illegal grounds, it is obvious that he would not be able to make
H.P. SISODIA v. U.0.1. 469

up the attendance criteria, if the attendance is to be counted from the date A
when the session started. It, therefore, appears appropriate to us to direct
that the attendance in the case of the petitioner, should be counted from
the date when the admission is granted to him pursuant to the directions
hereinabove made, by the Medical College, Solapur to consider his
eligibility for appearing in the examination.
B
Writ Petition is, accordingly, allowed but with no order as to costs.

T.N.A. . Petition allowed.