MOHAMED IBRAHIM Vs VINAYAKA MISSION UNIV..
Bench: R.M. LODHA,H.L. GOKHALE
Case number: C.A. No.-002454-002454 / 2012
Diary number: 26013 / 2010
Advocates: SHOBHA RAMAMOORTHY Vs
RAKESH K. SHARMA
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REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2454 OF 2012 [ARISING OUT OF S.L.P. (C) NO. 25911 OF 2010]
MOHAMED IBRAHIM AND OTHERS ... APPELLANT(s)
Versus
VINAYAKA MISSION UNIVERSITY AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)
WITH
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2455 OF 2012 [ARISING OUT OF S.L.P. (C) NO. 25914 OF 2010]
VIJAY KUMAR KOLLURI AND OTHERS ... APPELLANT(s)
Versus
VINAYAKA MISSION UNIVERSITY AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)
WITH
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2456 OF 2012 [ARISING OUT OF S.L.P. (C) NO. 26236 OF 2010]
VINAYAK MISSION UNIVERSITY ... APPELLANT(s)
Versus
NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATIONS AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)
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WITH
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2457 OF 2012 [ARISING OUT OF S.L.P. (C) NO. 19294 OF 2011]
SAIRAJA VAIKUNTH AND OTHERS ... APPELLANT(s)
Versus
VINAYAKA MISSION UNIVERSITY AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)
J U D G M E N T
R.M. LODHA, J.
Permission to file Special Leave Petition is granted
in S.L.P. (C) No. 19294 of 2011.
2. I.A. No. 2 of 2012 – application for impleadment is
granted in S.L.P. (C) No. 26236 of 2010. Leave granted in
all the Special Leave Petitions.
3. We have heard Mr. G. Umapathy, learned counsel for
Vinayaka Mission University, Mr. K.Ramamoorthy, learned
senior counsel and Mr. Dinesh Dwivedi, learned senior
counsel for the students, Mr. R.F. Nariman, learned
Solicitor General for the Union of India and Mr. Amrendra
Sharan, learned senior counsel for the Medical Council of
India.
4. The Government of India, vide notification dated
October 10, 2006, accorded its approval to the proposal of
Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Salem, now Vinayaka
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Mission University (for short “VMRF”) as a deemed
University for starting an Off-shore Campus offering
medical programmes at Bangkok, Thailand with an intake
capacity and conditions of 100 undergraduate medical
students per annum on the terms and conditions mentioned in
the Memorandum of Understanding dated September 19, 2004
between VMRF and Rangsit University, Thailand. The approval
so granted was subject to certain conditions mentioned at
serial No. 9 of the endorsement of the above Notification.
The relevant conditions are as under:
“(i) Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University, Salem along with its constituent institutions and its off-shore campus in Bangkok, Thailand, will continue to abide by the norms and guidelines laid down and instructions issued from time to time by the University Grants Commission pertaining to institutions notified as Deemed to be Universities.
(ii) Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University's Bangkok, Thailand's Off-shore Campus shall be subjected to the laws of the land of Thailand as applicable.
(iii) The students studying at and passing out from the off-shore campus in Thailand shall be awarded degree by Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University, clearly distinguishing them (by stating that the degree awarded by Vinayak Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University's Bangkok, Thailand Off-shore Campus) from the degrees awarded by the Deemed University in India.
(iv) All norms of Medical Council of India, wherever applicable, will continue to be in force and complied with.
(v) The students studying in and passing out
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from the proposed Off-shore campus centre at Thailand would be treated as those holding a foreign medical degree and would be required to qualify the screening test as per the provisions of Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and Screening Test Regulations 2002 of Medical Council of India.”
5. From the perusal of the above conditions, two things
become very clear, namely; (one) the degree shall be awarded
by the VMRF to the students studying at and passing of the
Off-shore Campus, Thailand by clearly stating that the
degree has been awarded by VMRF, Deemed University, Bangkok,
Thailand Off-shore campus and (two) the degree awarded to
the students shall be treated as a foreign medical degree
and such students would be required to qualify the screening
test as per the provisions of Indian Medical Council Act,
1956 and Screening Test Regulations, 2002 (for short “2002
Regulations”) as Medical Council of India.
6. Admittedly, the provisional MBBS degree awarded to
the concerned students by the VMRF (Deemed University,
Bangkok, Thailand Off-shore Campus) is not a degree
recognised by the Medical Council of Thailand. The Medical
Council of Thailand has accorded its approval now to the
faculty of Medicine, VMRF as a medical institution for
awarding MBBS degree for five years for the period March 10,
2011 till March 9, 2016. More over, nothing has been shown
either to the High Court or to us that the course in
Thailand is in any way recognised or is approved by the
Medical Council of India.
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7. Regulation 2(f) of 2002 Regulations defines “Primary
Medical qualification” which means a medical qualification
awarded by any medical institution outside India which is a
recognised qualification for enrollment as medical
practitioner in the country in which the institution
awarding the said qualification is situated and which is
equivalent to MBBS in India. Eligibility criteria for
screening test is provided in Regulation 4 of 2002
Regulations. Regulation 4(1), as was existing during the
relevant time, reads as under:
“(1) No person shall be allowed to appear in the screening test unless: he/she is a citizen of India and possesses any primary medical qualification, either whose name and the institution awarding it are included in the World Directory of Medial Schools, published by the World Health Organization; or which is confirmed by the Indian Embassy concerned to be a recognised qualification for enrollment as medical practitioner in the country in which the institution awarding the said qualification is situated.”
8. The students, who are before us, claim to have
completed medical course and have been issued provisional
certificate by VMRF on June 20, 2009. One of such
certificates reads as under:
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VINAYAKA MISSIONS UNIVERSITY
UNDER SECTION 3 OF THE UGC ACT, 1956
SALEM, TAMILNADU, INDIA
Formerly known as Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation Deemed University)
OFF-SHORE CAMPUS – BANGKOK- THAILAND
PROVISIONAL CERTIFICATE
REG. NO. VR MBU 04 1003 DATE: 20-06-2009
This is to certify that J. MOHAMED IBRAHIM has passed the Final Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Degree Examination held in May, 2009. He/She will be qualified to receive the M.B.B.S. Degree after satisfactorily completing the prescribed period of Compulsory Rotatory Resident Internship for one year.
sd/-
CONTROLLER OF EXAMINATIONS
9. Based on the above certificate, these students
applied for screening test through VMRF to the National
Board of Examination (NBE). NBE did not respond to such
applications. VMRF then moved to the Madras High Court
during vacation. The Vacation Judge issued certain
directions. Pursuant thereto, 21 students appeared in the
screening test. Of these 21 students, 4 cleared the
screening test. The Writ Petition ultimately came to be
allowed. NBE challenged the judgment and order of the Single
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Judge in intra court appeal before the Division Bench. The
Division Bench allowed the appeal and set-aside the judgment
and order of the Single Judge.
10. The Division Bench, in the impugned order, has noted
that VMRF was not approved by the Medical Council of
Thailand and inspite of opportunity, nothing was produced to
show that the degree awarded by the VMRF was recognised.
11. A bare look at the eligibility criteria provided in
Regulation 4(1) of 2002 Regulations leaves no manner of
doubt that a candidate who intends to appear in the
screening test must, inter-alia, possess primary medical
qualification. Such qualification must be a recognised
qualification for enrollment as a medical practitioner in
the country in which the institution awarding such
qualification is situated.
12. Admittedly, the provisional degree awarded by the
VMRF to these students is not recognised by the Medical
Council of Thailand. These students, who claim to have
completed their course in the off-shore campus of VMRF, are
not entitled to register the degree awarded to them by VMRF
with the Medical Council of Thailand. The provisional
degree awarded by VMRF to these students, therefore, does
not amount to primary medical qualification. The view
taken by the Division Bench that the students do not possess
eligibility of primary medical qualification, thus, cannot
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be said to suffer from any illegality.
13. Mr. K. Ramamoorthy, learned senior counsel for the
students heavily relied upon the decision of this Court in
Soham Mayankumar Vyas and others vs. Union of India and
others1 . However, in view of peculiar factual position of
this case as noticed above, Soham Mayankumar Vyas has no
application at all.
14. Civil Appeals are, accordingly, dismissed with no
order as to costs.
.....................J. (R.M. LODHA)
.....................J. (H.L. GOKHALE)
NEW DELHI FEBRUARY 22, 2012.
1 (2010) 13 SCC 137