Holding

The scheme framed by the Court does not permit a third round of counselling, and vacancies cannot be filled by altering the scheme; the interim order is dissolved and the petitions are dismissed.

Summary

The Supreme Court examined petitions filed by Supreet Batra and others seeking a third round of counselling for MBBS/BDS admissions under the 15% All‑India quota, arguing that several states had not completed the prescribed counselling within the dates fixed by the Court‑framed scheme, leading to vacant seats. The Court held that the detailed scheme, as ordered by the Court, does not provide for a third round of counselling and should not be altered to accommodate vacancies. It emphasized that the scheme aims at broad equality rather than mathematical exactness, and that admitting students mid‑session would contravene the spirit of medical education statutes. Consequently, the interim order preventing vacant All‑India quota seats from reverting to the states was dissolved, and the petitions were dismissed. The decision reaffirmed earlier rulings that the scheme is not a statute conferring inexorable rights and that vacancies cannot be filled by creating additional counselling rounds.

Issues considered

Whether a third round of counselling can be introduced under the Court‑framed scheme for All‑India quota medical admissions.
Whether vacancies arising from unfilled seats can be filled by altering the scheme or by allowing seats to revert to the states.
Whether the interim order preventing vacant All‑India quota seats from reverting to states remains operative.

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. Article 32

Subjects

Medical admissionAll‑India quotaCounselling roundsReservationEquality clauseVacant seatsScheme modificationConstitutional writ

Judgment

A SUPREET BATRA AND ORS.
v.
UNION OF INOIA AND 'ORS.

JANUARY 27, 2003

B [S. RAJENDRA BABU, D.M. DHARMADHIKARI AND
G.P. MATHUR, JJ;]

Educatiorr

C . MBBSIBDS courses-Admission t~Under I 5% All India quota-Scheme
ft:(lmed inShrawan Kumar's case {ls modified later-Some States reported
to htive not done counselling by prescribed dates~Wrii petitions filed seeking
.:Jurther modification of the Sche.me With a provision for third round of
counselling-Held, the deiai!edSchemejramed by the Court has to be worked
D out as indicated therein-:-There is no scope for third round of counselling
u~er the Scheme which need not be altered

In Shrawan Kumar's case the Supreme Court framed a Scheme for
admission to MBBS/BDS courses under tSo/o ·All-India quota in various
Colleges in the country. The Scheme was modified by an order made in
E I.A.No.JO of 2000 in W.P.(C) No. 443 of 1992. whereunder last date of
receipf of vacancy position was fixed as 15th .July. of each year and second
round counselling was proposed to be taken .between 18th July to 24th
July each year.

Some of the candidates filed writ petitions stating that counselling
F was not dorie in some of the States by the dates prescribed in the Scheme
and, therefore~ they would not be able to take advantage of the second
round of counselling. It was submitted that some of the candidates, who
were allotted seats in the first round, may not .have been given the course
or College or place of their choice and later when they get allotment of
G t'1eir choice under State quota they would vacate the seat allotted to them
under All-India quota and thus more seats would fall vacant under the
All India quota. It was, therefore, contended that a third round of
counselling may be permitted so that the seats thus falling vacant can be
aliotted to candidates under All-India quota and may not be allowed to
revert back to the States.
H 586

,.. .
SUPREET BATRA v. U.0.1. 587
Dismissing the petitions, the Court A
HELD: t.l. When detailed Scheme has been framed through orders
of the Court prescribing also the manner in which it has to be worked
out, if in a particular year there in any short fall or certain number of
seats are not filled up, the same would not be done by adopting one more
round of counselling because there In no scope for a third round of B
counselling under the Scheme. It would not be advisable to go on altering
the scheme as and when seats are vacant. What is to be borne in mind is
that broad equality is to be achieved and not that it should result in any
mathematical exactitude. (591-B, Cl

Sharwan Kumar etc. etc. v. Director General, Health Sciences and Anr. C
etc. etc. (1993] 3 sec 332, explained.

1.2. The primary consideration in formulating the Scheme for
creating a reservation in favour of candidates is broadly based on national
approach as against the State based reservation. This background resulted D
in the formulation of the Scheme. The Sche.mes framed by this Court
should not be read as if they are Statutes or that inexorable rights are
conferred upon the parties. The object of the Scheme was to achieve a
broad based equality and as such the Scheme need not be altered. Besides,
there is no scope for admitting students midstream as that would be against
the very spirit of statutes governing medical education. [590-C, D; 591-E, Fl E
Dr. Pradeep Jain and Ors. etc. etc. v. Union ofIndia and Ors., etc. etc.,
(1984] 3 SCC 654 and Dr. Dinesh Kumar & Ors. v. Moti/al Nehru Medical
College and Ors., [1986[ 3 SCC 727; Ms. Neelu Arora and Anr. v. Union of
India and Ors. and Medical Council ofIndia v. Madhu Singh and Ors., (2002].
7 sec 258, relied on. F
2. By an interim order this Court had directed that the seats under
the All-India quota should not revert to the States. As a consequence, these
seats have not been filled up either under All-India quota or State quota.
However, with the dismissal of these petitions, the interim order gets G
dissolved. In I.A.No 13 filed in W.P. (Civil) No. 393 of 2002, it has been
stated that the State of Kerala had extended period of Rank List upto
December 31, 2002 only and thereafter applicants would lose their
eligibility. It is made clear that period of validity shall stand extended until
the appropriate steps are taken by the authorities concerned in that State.
(591-G, H; 592-A] H
588 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2003] I S.C.R.

A CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (Civil) No.· 393
of 2002. )..-.

(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.)
WITH
B W.P. (C) No, 473/2003. ·

K.N. Rawal, Solicitor General, ATM Ranga Ramanujan, Kailash Vasdev,
P.H. Parekh, Rohit_ Alex, Mrs. Gouri K. Das, Ms. Rani Jethmalani,
Mrs. Sunita Sharma, D.S. Mabra, Sumita Sharma, R.K. Rathore, Addi. Adv.
Gen,· for Pllnjab, Tara Chandra Sharina, Ms. Neelam Shanna, Ajay Shanna,
C Anil Nag, R.K. Bansal, K.R. Sasiprabhu, John Mathe~, Ms. K. Sangeeta,
Sushil Tekriwal, S.S. Shinde, V.N. Raghupathy, Pardeep Gupta, C.M .
. Kennedy, K.K. Mohan, Ranji Thomas, Mrs. Bharati Upadhyaya, D.K. Thakur,
Sanjay Mitra, V.G. Pragasam, Maninder Singh, A. Mariarputtam, Ms. Pratibha
M. Singh, Ms. Ankur Talwar, Kirtiman Singh, Angad Chopra, Bhavanishankar
D V. Gadnis, H.A. Raichura, Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Ms. Sadhna Sandhu, Prakash
Shrivastava, P.K. Chakravarty, Annam D.N. Rao, Ms. Krishna Sarma, Ms.
Asha G. Nair, V.K. Sidatharan, for M/s. Corporate Law Group, Ms. Kamini
Jaiswal, Ms. Shomila Bakshi, Satinder Singh Gulati, Ranbir Yadav, Naresh
K. Shanna, K.H. Nobin Singh, M. Gireesh Kumar, Ms. Revathy Raghavan,
Ashok Srivastava, B.S. Banthia and Ms. Geetanjali Mohan, for the appearing
E parties.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

RAJENDRA BABU, J. These petitions are offshoot of a Scheme framed ·
by this Court in Sharwan Kumar, etc. etc, . v. Director General of Health
F Services & Anr. etc. etc., {1993] 3 sec 332, prescribing the procedure to
complete the process of allotment of 15 per cent· of All-India quota for
admission to MBBS/BDS courses in various colleges in the country by
September [now changed to 7th August] each year. The said Scheme was
modified pursuant to an order made in I.A.No.IO of2000 in WP{C} No.443
of 1992 and the date fixed, as stood altered, as indicated therein and the last
G date for receipt of vacancy position is fixed as 7st August of each year and
the Ilnd round of counselling is proposed to be taken between the period
from 16th August to 18th August of each year.

Now in these petitions, it is contended that selection or counselling has
not been done in some States and therefore, they would not take full advantage
· H. of llnd round of counselling. The details are set forth as under :
SUPREET BATRA v. U.0.1. [S. RAJENDRA BABU, J.) 589
a. The date of the PMT in Punjab has. been altered from 23rd June A
--..( to 21st July, 2002.

b. The States of Haryana and Ottar Pradesh have only conducted
their PMT on 30th June, 2002 .

c.
.
In the state of Karnataka the counselling sessions for the
Kamataka quota will commence on the 3 I st of August and the
B
counselling sessions for the non-Kamataka quota will commence
on 11th September, 2002.

d. In the State of Rajasthan, the results of the PMT were declared
on 26th June, 2002. However, no counselling schedule has been
declared so far.
c
e. In the State of Bihar, the date of the PMT had been shifted from
~ 9th June to I Ith July, 2002 .
...
f. In the State of Jharkhand, the date of the pre-entrance test for
D
screening has been fixed at 7th July, 2002 and no date has been
fixed for the main entrance text i.e. the P.M.T.

g. In the State of West Bengal, no date has been announced vis-a-
vis the counselling sessions.

h. In the state of New Delhi, the DPMT was conducted on 18th E
May, 2002 and the date of the counselling is scheduled to be
held on 16th and 17th July, 2002 .

i. .In the States of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, they have not
conducted the PMT yet.
A- F
j. Vis-a-vis All India All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the
test was conducted ·on I st June, 2002 and the counselling is
scheduled to be held on 29th July, 2002.

It is submitted that the candidates from these States who have been
allotted seats in the first round of allotment may not have been given the G
course or college or place of their choice and in case later on they get the
allotment of their choice under the State quota, then they will vacate the seat
allotted to them under the All-India Quota. Hence they apprehend ihat more
thi;n 700 seats will fall vacant once the counselling is conducted in the
aforesaid States. Therefore, it is submitted that a lllrd round of counselling H
590 SUPREME COURT REPORTS . · · · [~003) I S.C.R.

·A is required to be held in th~ special features of the case and that the vacant
. seats, if any, should arise in the '15 per cent All-India Quota seats should not
. be. allowed to· revert back to the States/Colleges after 7th. August, 2002 and
that instead of.successful.and meritorious candidates in.the All-India Quota
should be allotted these seat.s and pass such other orders as may be necessary.

B This C:::ourt in Dr. Pradeep Jain & Ors., etc. etc. v. Union of India &
Ors., etc. etc., (1984] 3 SCC 654 and Dr. Dinesh Kumar & Ors. v. Motilal
Nehru Medical College & Ors., [ 1986] 3 SCC 727, while disapproving of the
-t-· '
total reservation on different scores in regard to admission of students in
medical courses such as MBBS and post-graduate specialities, stated that
C · ~'the very mandate of the equality clause viewed in the persp.ective of social
justice would justify some extent of reservation preferences for students passing
the qualifying examination". The· pri1Dary consideration in formulating the
scheme for creating a reservation in favour of candidates is broadly based on
national approach as against the State based reservation. This background
resulted in the. formulation of the S~heme, which is. sought to be interpreted
D or modified now. We should not. read . . the
' Schemes
. framed this. Court
. as if
they are Statutes or that inexorablerights are c~nferred upon the parties. For
the academic year 2002..:2003, .1484 5eats for MBBS course and 150 seats for
BOS course, totaling 1634 seats were made availab.le by the States under the
15% All-India Quom. On the basis of the results declared by respondent
E No.2, 2778 successful candidates were sent .call letters. By the end of the first
ro~nd of counselling, the entire 1634 seats were allotted up to 1835th rank.

The contention of the petitioners is that inasmuch as certain
circumstances have arisen in view of change of date in the matter of counselling
and date by which intimatioq of the vacancy position to the Director General
F of Health Services, the scheme frained by· this Court in Shal"Wan Kuniar;s '
· ·.. ~se is not· being given full effect with the consequence of seats reverting to
States thus frustrating ·the. Scheme framed by this Court. ·

. As per cl~use 14: ~fthe Scheme, i'f the Dean ~r the Principal of the
. concerned college does not ~otify the vacancy position due to no~-jolning of
··0 candidate or candidates in the first· round of counselling before· the ..date
to
indicated therein; the seats allotted the c~llege wiii be tr~ated aS vacant and ?
allotment of candidates will be made agains.t thes~ deemed vacant seats and -,....-... ..
it shall be the responsibilitY of the Dean ·or the Principal ·of the. concerned
coU~ge give admi.ssio11 tQ those candidates..
to TheIlnd round of allotment by
H · person~l appearance will ·be for cand\dates who· were allotted a seat in the
SUPREET BATRA v. U.0.1. [S. RAJENDRA BABU, J.) 591

first round and who wish to change their allotted college/course and wish to A
join the same against vacancies arising due to non-joining of the candidates
allotted in the first round of personal appearance and for candidates on the
merit list who could not be considered for allotment in the .first round. It is
thus the Ilnd round of counselling by personal appearance was to be concluded
by a particular date.
.B
When detailed scheme has been framed tbrough orders of this Court
and the manner in which it has to be worked out is also indicated tberein, we
do not think tbat if in a particular year there is any short fall or certain
number of seats are not filled up, the same should be done by adopting one
more round of counselling because tbere is no scope for tbe tbird round .of C
counselling under tbe Scheme. It would not be advisable to go on altering the
scheme as and when seats are vacant. What is to be borne in mind is tbat
broad equality will have to be achieved and not tbat ii should result.in any
matbematical exactitude. Out of about I 600 seats, if 2()0 seats are not filled
< up for various reasons and such not filled up sears were much less in the
earlier years, we do not tbink it should result in the tbird round of counselling. D
If tbat process is to be adopted tben tbere will be again vacancies and further
filling up of tbe seats falling vacant will have to be undertaken. In tbat
process, it will become endless until all tbe seats under the All-India Quota
are filled up. That is not tbe object of tbe Scheme formulated by tbis Court.
The object was to achieve a broad based equality .as indicated by us at tbe E
outset and we do not think that any steps have to be taken for altering tbe
Scheme. We have taken identical view in tbe decision in Writ Petition (Civil)
No. 407 of 2001 (Ms. Nee/u Arora & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors.) and
connected matters disposed of on 24.01 .2003. Moreover, tbis Court in Medical
Council of India v. Madhu Singh & Ors., (2002] 7 SCC 258, has taken· tbe
view tbat there is no scope for admitting students midstream as tbat would. .f
be against tbe very spirit of statutes governing medical education. Even if
seats are unfilled that cannot be a ground for making mid-session admissions
and tbere cannot be telescoping of unfille.d ·seats of one year with permitted
seats of tbe subsequent year. If tbese aspects are borne in mind we do not
think any reliefs as sought for by the petitioners can be granted under these
petitions. These writ petitions shall stand dismissed. G

By an interim order this Court had directed tbat tbe seats in tbe All-
India quota should not revert to tbe States. As a consequent tbese seats have
not been filled up eitber in AU-India quota or State quota and witb the
dismissal of these petitions, tbat interim order gets dissolved. In I.A.No.13 ii
592 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003) i S.C.R.

A tiled in W.P.(Civil] 393 of 2002, it is brought to our notice that the State of
Kerala had extended period of Rank List upto December 31, 2002 only and ~
thereafter applicants would lose their eligibility. It is made clear that period ,
. of validity shall stand extended until .the appropriate ~teps are taken. by the ·
concerned authorities in that State. · ·

B . Interlocutory Applications filed ~hall stand disposed off in view.of the
order made by us in the main petitions.
·--;-- J
Petitions dismissed .
.

. ),_