M A I N   N E W S

CMC told to pay Rs 14 lakh
Denial of admission to candidates
Our High Court Correspondent

Chandigarh, January 4
Coming down heavily on the management of Christian Medical College (CMC), Ludhiana, for refusing to admit candidates under the government quota to the MBBS and BDS course, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today imposed exemplary costs on the college. It directed it to pay Rs 2 lakh to each of the selected candidates, who had been refused admission and who had moved the High Court. The total number of such candidates is six.

The CMC has also been directed to pay Rs 2 lakh to Baba Farid University, Faridkot, which would deposit the money in the welfare fund meant for students.

Terming the action of the college in filling all the seats, including those which were part of the government quota, on its own, as illegal and fraudulent, the Bench comprising Mr Justice J.S. Khehar and Mr Justice S.N. Aggarwal directed that all the petitioner-candidates would be automatically considered selected in the next year’s MBBS/BDS course of the college.

Vikram Singla and five other candidates had approached the High Court challenging the arbitrary action of the CMC management in denying admission to them on flimsy grounds.

While the CMC management has the right to fill 75 per cent of the total seats under the management quota — as decided by the Supreme Court — the remaining 25 per cent seats have to be filled by the State Government through an entrance test.

However, taking advantage of the fact that the counselling for filling of the seats under the government quota was not completed by August 31, as prescribed by the Medical Council of India and settled by the Supreme Court, the CMC management filled all seats on its own.

Incidentally, the counselling had been delayed because of leakage of question paper, re-conduct of the entrance test and coming to light of discrepancies in the checking of the answer-sheets.

In the 67-page judgement, the Bench noted, “Unfortunately, the instant action of the CMC to fill up the seats reserved for the State quota, from out of its own selection process, seems to us, to be motivated, and with ulterior design to gab the seats of the State quota.”

Referring to the CMC stand that by its action of filling all the seats on its own was only to adhere to the time-schedule laid down by the Supreme Court in Mridul Dhar’s case, the Bench said a perusal of the case before it revealed that even the CMC had not adhered to the schedule.

“While the State had valid and genuine reasons for which it could not follow the guidelines, the CMC had no excuse to do so,” the court held.

Holding that by filling seats of the government quota on its own, the CMC not only violated the judgment of the Supreme Court but had also contravened the order of the Apex court whereby it had ruled that only 75 per cent of the seats could be filled by the CMC management, the Bench said that minority institutions like the CMC have to be fair and reasonable. “They cannot take the shelter of being minority institutions and violate the law blatantly, as has been done by the CMC in this case,” it said.

Observing that the CMC had even overlooked merit by refusing to give admission to the meritorious candidates against the state quota seats, the Bench said that since the candidates admitted by the CMC management had already completed over three months of studies, it would be unjust to ask them to vacate the seats.

It, however, ordered that the petitioners would be given admissions in the next academic year by the CMC under the management quota seats.

The court also expressed regret over the failure of the MCI to properly assist the court on the issue of non-adherence of counselling schedules, observing that the MCI, which is the regulatory body for medical courses, has “no clear vision on the subject.”