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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 677 OF 2016

Rishabh Choudhary        .….Petitioner

versus

Union of India & Ors.                         ….Respondents

WITH

WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 862 OF 2016

Sandeep Kumar & Anr.         ….Petitioners

versus

State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.            ….Respondents

J U D G M E  N T

Madan B. Lokur, J.

W.P. (C) No. 677 OF 2016

1. The question for consideration in this writ petition filed

under Article 32 of the Constitution concerns the validity of

admission granted to the petitioner by respondent No.3 (C.M.

Medical  College  &  Hospital  -  for  short  the  College)  to  the

MBBS course. In our opinion, the admission granted by the

College  to  the  petitioner  was  unjustified  and  therefore  his

W.P. (C ) Nos. 677 & 862 of 2016                                                Page 1 of 10

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admission is set aside.

2. On 21st December, 2010 a gazette notification was issued

by the Medical Council of India amending the “Regulations on

Graduate Medical  Education, 1997” to the effect,  inter alia,

that admissions to the MBBS course  shall be based solely on

marks obtained in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test

(for  short  NEET).   This  notification  was  challenged  by,

amongst others, Christian Medical College Vellore in a batch

of petitions before this Court which came to be allowed. The

decision of this Court is dated 18th July, 2013 and is reported

as  Christian Medical College, Vellore & Ors.  v. Union of

India & Ors.1  The gazette notification dated 21st December,

2010 was quashed.  As a result, admission of a student to the

MBBS course through NEET was no longer mandatory.  

3. Subsequently,  petitions  were  filed  for  a  review  of  the

decision rendered by  this  Court  and these  review petitions

ultimately  came  to  be  referred  to  a  Bench  of  five  learned

judges of this Court.  By an order dated 11th April, 2016 in

Medical  Council  of  India  v.  Christian Medical  College,

Vellore & Ors.2 the review petitions were allowed and the

1 (2014) 2 SCC 305 2 (2016) 4 SCC 342 W.P. (C ) Nos. 677 & 862 of 2016                                                Page 2 of 10

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decision  rendered  by  this  Court  on  18th July,  2013  was

recalled and it was directed that all the matters be considered

afresh.  

4. Prior  to  this,  the  College  wrote  to  the  State  of

Chhattisgarh  on  or  about  29th October,  2015  seeking

permission  to  conduct  examinations  for  the  management

quota and NRI seats for the MBBS course for the academic

year 2016-17.  The State of Chhattisgarh granted permission

to the College to conduct examinations by its letter dated 5th

November, 2015.

5. Consequent upon the permission granted by the State of

Chhattisgarh to conduct examinations, the College issued an

advertisement  inviting  applications  on  28th January,  2016

and eventually conducted the examination on 3rd April, 2016.

The examination called CGMAT-2016 was monitored by the

State of Chhattisgarh and according to the College as well as

the State there were no irregularities in the conduct of  the

examination.   

6. The result of the examination was declared on 11th April,

2016 and the petitioner qualified in the examination.  On 19th

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April, 2016 that is after this Court had decided to review its

decision and had recalled the judgment dated 18th July, 2013,

counseling  was  conducted  for  the  petitioner  and   he  was

granted admission for the MBBS course by the College after

all formalities were completed.           

7. At  this  stage,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  Medical

Council  of India published a notification in 2015 amending

the  “Regulations  on  Graduate  Medical  Education,  1997”

whereby  a  time  schedule  for  completion  of  the  admission

process  for  First  MBBS  Course  was  prescribed.   This

notification is reproduced and the Schedule given therein was

approved in  Ashish Ranjan v. Union of India3 decided on

18th January,  2016.   As  per  the  prescribed  schedule,  the

conduct of entrance examination was to take place between

1st and  7th May  and  the  result  of  the  qualifying

examination/entrance examination was to be declared by 1st

June.   In  other  words,  the  examination  conducted  by  the

College on 3rd April, 2016 being CGMAT-2016 was in defiance

of the notification issued by the Medical Council of India, and

the  schedule  approved  by  this  Court.  Similarly,  admission

3 (2016) 11 SCC 225 W.P. (C ) Nos. 677 & 862 of 2016                                                Page 4 of 10

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granted  to  the  petitioner  on  19th April,  2016  was

notwithstanding the orders of this Court passed on 11th April,

2016 read with the notification dated 21st December,  2010

and the schedule prescribed by the Medical Council of India.

8. There are a few other orders passed by this Court which

are of some significance.  On 28th April, 2016 it was directed

by this Court in Sankalp Charitable Trust & Anr. v. Union

of India & Ors.4 that NEET Phase I would be held in terms of

the  notification  dated  21st December,  2010  issued  by  the

Medical  Council  of  India.   The  All  India  Pre-Medical  Test

would be held on 1st May, 2016.  Thereafter, Phase II of NEET

for the left out candidates would be held on 24th July, 2016.

It was made clear that since the judgment and order dated

18th July, 2013 had been recalled, the notification dated 21st

December, 2010 was in operation.    

9. By an order dated 6th May, 2016 in Sankalp Charitable

Trust  it  was  made  clear  that  no  examination  shall  be

permitted to be held for admission for MBBS studies by any

private  college  or  association  or  any  private/deemed

University.  

4 (2016) 7 SCC 487 W.P. (C ) Nos. 677 & 862 of 2016                                                Page 5 of 10

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10. Subsequently  on 9th May,  2016 this  Court  declined  to

modify the order dated 28th April, 2016.  An order was also

passed making it clear that all such candidates who could not

appear in NEET-I and those who had appeared but had an

apprehension  that  they  had  not  prepared  well,  would  be

permitted  to  appear  in  NEET-II  subject  to  an  option  from

these candidates to give up their candidature for NEET-1. It

was further clarified that only NEET would enable students to

get admission to MBBS studies.                  

11. In view of all these orders passed by this Court from time

to time, it is more than abundantly clear that the notification

dated  21st December,  2010  stood  resurrected  and  that

admissions to the MBBS course could only through NEET-I

and NEET-II.  No other process of admission was permissible.

Given this background, the Director of Medical Education in

Chhattisgarh wrote to the College on or about 13th July, 2016

to take steps to cancel all the admissions made by the College

in terms of the examination CGMAT – 2016 held for students

for the management quota and NRI quota. Eventually by a

letter dated 28th July, 2016 the Director of Medical Education

in  Chhattisgarh  recommended  to  the  College  to  cancel

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admissions made to the MBBS course.   This prompted the

petitioner to file a writ petition in this Court.  

12. It is submitted and prayed by the petitioner that since he

had already been granted admission by the College after the

examination CGMAT-2016 was conducted by the College and

supervised and monitored by the State of Chhattisgarh and in

which there were no allegations of impropriety, his admission

should not be disturbed.   It is submitted that the petitioner

was  certainly  not  at  fault  and  there  is  no  reason  why  he

should be the victim of an apparent wrong committed by the

College as also by the State of Chhattisgarh.

13. We have  considered the  submissions  made by  learned

counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner and the College

supporting him but are not  inclined to accept  them.  It  is

quite clear that the examination CGMAT-2016 was conducted

by the  College  on 3rd April,  2016 contrary  to  the  schedule

prescribed by the Medical Council of India (and approved by

this Court) for holding the MBBS entrance examinations. The

question  is  not  of  any  impropriety  in  the  conduct  of  the

examination but the question is really one of adhering to a

particular discipline laid down by the Medical Council of India

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and approved by this Court.  

14. Furthermore  we  find  that  counseling  was  carried  out

insofar  as  the  petitioner  is  concerned  on  19th April,  2016

which is after the decision of this Court on 11th April, 2016

recalling  the  decision  dated  18th July,  2013.   There  was

absolutely no occasion for the College to have conducted the

counseling after the recall order passed by this Court on 11 th

April,  2016.    The effect  of  the  recall  order,  as  mentioned

above, was that the notification issued by the Medical Council

of India on 21st December, 2010 effectively stood revived in

the  sense  that  NEET  was  the  only  option  available  for

admission to the MBBS course.  The College and the State of

Chhattisgarh ought to have been aware of  these facts,  but

seem to have turned a blind eye not only to the orders of this

Court but to the notifications issued by the Medical Council of

India.  

15. The question before this Court is not who is to be blamed

for the present state of affairs - whether it is the students or

the  College  or  the  State  of  Chhattisgarh.   The  question is

really whether the rule of law should prevail or not.  In our

opinion, the answer is unambiguously in the affirmative.   The

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College and the State of Chhattisgarh have not adhered to the

law with  the  result  that  the  petitioner  became a  victim of

circumstances giving him a cause of action to proceed against

the College and the State of Chhattisgarh being a victim of

their  maladministration.  The  plight  of  the  petitioner  is

unfortunate but it cannot be helped.

16. We were told during the course of submissions that some

similarly placed students participated in NEET and qualified

in the examination. Those students like the petitioner who did

not  participate  in NEET and placed their  trust  only  in the

College and the State of Chhattisgarh took a gamble and that

gamble  has  unfortunately  not  succeeded.  While  our

sympathies may be with the petitioner and similarly placed

students, we cannot go contrary to the orders passed by this

Court from time to time only for their benefit.   

17. Under the circumstances, we find no ground has been

made out for  granting relief  to  the petitioner.   There is  no

merit  in  this  writ  petition  and  it  is  accordingly  dismissed.

However, we make it clear that the petitioner is at liberty to

proceed against the College and the State of Chhattisgarh in

any appropriate manner.  

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W.P. (C) No. 862 OF 2016

18.  We find no reason to entertain this petition under Article

32 of the Constitution and it is accordingly dismissed.  

19. In  view  of  the  order  passed  in  the  writ  petition  the

application for impleadment stands disposed of.    

    …………………………..J                                               ( Madan B. Lokur )

New Delhi                      ………………………….J. January 23, 2017                ( Prafulla C. Pant )

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