Summary
Three private dental colleges in Chhattisgarh admitted students to MDS seats on 31.05.2018, after the 4:30 p.m. deadline. They did so unilaterally, without telling the Directorate of Medical Education that seats were vacant. The admitted students had failed to secure those seats in the mop-up counselling. The State cancelled the admissions, but the High Court, having let the students study under an interim order, quashed the cancellation. The Supreme Court allowed the Dental Council's appeals and restored the cancellation. Postgraduate admissions could be made only through the Directorate's counselling on merit, within the schedule. Vacant seats on the last date did not justify backdoor admissions, and the colleges and students appeared to have acted hand in glove. Completion of the course under an interim order gave no right, as misplaced sympathy would perpetuate the illegality.
Issues
- Whether private colleges could grant MDS admissions after the deadline, without notifying vacant seats to the Directorate, to candidates who failed to secure those seats in counselling.
- Whether students who studied under the High Court's interim order should be permitted to complete the course.
Provisions considered
- Admission through State counselling, Dentists Act, 1948, MDS Course Regulations, 2017 and Chhattisgarh Dental Medicine Postgraduate Admission Rules, 2017Postgraduate dental admissions had to be made through the Directorate's counselling rounds on merit for seats intimated by the colleges, within the prescribed schedule. (¶¶ 2.1, 8)
Held
- The respondents were admitted through the backdoor, after the deadline and without the vacant seats being intimated to the Directorate; their failure to get the same colleges in mop-up counselling belied the claim that merit was respected. (¶¶ 8, 9)
- Following Supreet Batra, Education Promotion Society and Astha Goel, seats remaining vacant on the last date are no ground for colleges to admit students unilaterally or to extend the schedule. (¶ 10)
- No one may take advantage of an interim order; the High Court should not have granted it, and allowing students admitted illegally to complete their course out of sympathy would perpetuate the illegality. (¶¶ 11, 11.1, 11.4, 12)
Result
Appeals allowed; the High Court's common judgment set aside, the writ petitions dismissed, and the Directorate's communication dated 6.6.2018 cancelling the respondents' MDS admissions restored; no order as to costs.