IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU Dated this the 18TH day of November 2019 Before THE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE ALOK ARADHE Review Petition Nos.341-343/2019 & Review Petition Nos.441-444/2019 (In W.P. Nos.4562-4566/2019 & 5389-5390/2019) BETWEEN:
1. SUHAS S., S/O M SHANKAR AGED ABOUT 20 YEARS NO 4401, 6TH MAIN, 2ND CROSS MUNISWAMY GOWDA LAYOUT VIVEKANANDANAGAR BANGARPET TOWN, KOLAR – 563114.
2. VIKRAM RAJU HEGDE S/O RAJU HEGDE AGED ABOUT 21 YEARS, RESIDNG AT CNNL, ANAND RAO CIRCLE, BANGALORE – 560009.
3. G SAI PRIYANKA, D/O DR. G. BRAHMANANDA REDDY, AGED ABOUT 20 YEARS, 9-66/2, AMARAVATHINAGAR, MR PALLI, TIRUPATHI – 517502, CHITTOR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH.
…PETITIONERS (BY SRI AJIT ANAND SHETTY, ADVOCATE) A N D :
1. UNION OF INDIA BY MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE, 7-B MOTI LAL NEHRU MARG, NEW DELHI-110011, BY ITS SECRETARY.
2. MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA POCKET-14, SECTOR-8, DWARKA PHASE-1 NEW DELHI-110077, INDIA BY ITS REGISTRAR/SECRETARY 3. STATE OF KARNATAKA BY THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL EDUCATION DIRETORATE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION ANAND RAO CIRCLE, BANGALORE-560009 KARNATAKA, INDIA BY PRINCIPAL SECRETARY 4. RAJIV GANDHI UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES, 4TH T BLOCK, 4TH T BLOCK EAST, PATTABHIRAMA NAGAR, JAYANAGAR BENGALURU, KARNATAKA 560041 BY ITS REGISTRAR 5. SAMBHRAM INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES AND RESEARCH D.K.PLANTATION, BEML NAGAR, KOLAR GOLD FIELDS, KARNATAKA-563115 BY ITS SECRETARY ...RESPONDENTS (BY SRI. H.MALLAN GOUD, CGSC FOR R1 SRI. N.K.RAMESH, ADVOCATE FOR R4 SRI. K.DIWAKARA, ADVOCATE FOR R5 SRI. KIRAN KUMAR, HCGP FOR R3) These review petitions are filed under Order 47 Rule 1 read with Section 114 of the CPC praying this Hon’ble Court to review the order dated 22nd August 2019 passed in Writ Petition Nos.4562-4566/2019 and 5389-5390/2019 in as much as directing the 1st respondent Union of India to constitute a committee comprising a senior officer from the Central Bureau of Investigation and two doctors of repute from the All India Institute of Medical sciences or any other premier medical institution to inspect the facilities of the 6th respondent institution and inter-alia verify if such facility, including the teaching faculty, patient inflow and other clinical facilities are adequate to train the petitioners herein to graduate as qualified medical practitioners in terms of the ruling of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of “Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University and another Vs. Union of India and others” reported in 2019(1)SCALE 700; and etc.
These review petitions coming on for Hearing on Orders at Dharwad Bench, through video conference, this day, the Court made the following:
ORDER Sri Ajith Anand Shetty, learned counsel for the petitioners.
2. Sri H.Mallan Goud, learned CGC for R1, Sri N.K.Ramesh, learned counsel for R4, Sri K.Diwakara, learned counsel for R5, Sri Kiran Kumar, learned HCGP for R3.
3. These petitions have been filed seeking review of the order dated 22nd August 2019 passed by this Court in W.P. Nos.4562-4566 & 5389-5390/2019.
4. Facts giving rise to filing of these review petitions, briefly stated, are that the petitioners, who are students of MBBS course of 2016-17 batch filed the writ petitions seeking a writ of mandamus directing respondent No.2 to declare “Sambhram Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (hereinafter referred to as ‘the College’, for short) as a defunct institution as well as a writ of mandamus directing Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (hereinafter referred to as ‘the University’, for short) to shift/relocate the petitioners to other institutions recognized by the respondents No.2 and 4. The petitioners also sought for a writ of mandamus directing the respondent No.2 to recognize allocations of seats for petitioners in alternative colleges/institutions as being valid.
5. This Court, by an order dated 22nd August 2019, disposed of the writ petitions with the following directions:
“ (i) That the MCI shall depute a team to examine the college to ascertain whether existing infrastructure, teaching faculty and other clinical facilities and the hospital has adequate number of patients insofar as it pertains to the petitioners the aforesaid team after objective assessment shall submit the report to the MCI and the MCI on the aforesaid report shall take a decision on or before 30.09.2019. In case the infrastructure and other facilities including the teaching faculty are found to be deficient, the MCI, Central government and state government shall take a suitable decision for transfer of the students in government medical colleges in view of the undertaking furnished in essentiality certificate by the State Government.
(ii) The university in addition which is an affiliating body shall also conduct a separate inspection and share its report with the MCI.
(iii) The college as undertaken by it shall comply with the deficiencies within a period of three weeks from today.
(iv) Based on the report which may be submitted by the team of MCI the MCI shall take suitable decision in case of petitioners. In view of the undertaking given before this Court by the MCI, the MCI in case it finds the infrastructure, facilities and the teaching faculty as well as the hospital has sufficient number of patients for the petitioners, shall take a decision to recognize the degree of the petitioners.
(v) In case it is found that the facilities, infrastructure and the teaching faculty and other clinical facilities are sufficient in the report which may be submitted to the MCI, the amount of fee deposited by the petitioners for their 3rd year course shall be transmitted to the account of the college.”
6. The petitioners have filed these review petitions on or about 30th August 2019 in which the following reliefs have been prayed:
(i) directing the 1st respondent Union of India to constitute a committee comprising a senior officer from the Central Bureau of Investigation and two doctors of repute from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences or any other premier medical institution to inspect the facilities of the 6th respondent institution and inter-alia verify if such facility, including the teaching faculty, patient inflow and other clinical facilities are adequate to train the petitioners herein to graduate as qualified medical practitioners in terms of the ruling of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of “Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University and another Vs. Union of India and others” reported in 2019(1)SCALE 700;
(ii) fixing a time limit to shift the Petitioners to Government or other medical institutions within the State of Karnataka in the event of deficiencies being found in the facilities set up by the 6th respondent institution in a manner where the petitioners are not deprived of a valuable academic year”
7. After filing of the review petitions, the Medical Council of India, by a communication dated 10.10.2019, informed the Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Government of Karnataka, that the matter has been considered by Board of Governors of Medical council of India and the Board of Governors has no objection to transfer the students of the College to other private medical colleges of the State subject to withdrawal of the Essentiality Certificate. The aforesaid communication is under challenge by the College in W.P. No.50224/2019 in which an interim order was passed on 31.10.2019 directing the respondents therein not to precipitate the matter. Thereafter, a bench of this Court vide order dated 14.11.2019 directed that the interim order granted on 31.10.2019 shall not come in the way of the review petitioners to prosecute their remedy in accordance with law.
8. Learned counsel for the petitioners has filed an interlocutory application seeking permission to the petitioners to appear in the 3rd year medical examination which is scheduled to be held on 11.12.2019. On the other hand, learned counsel for the University as well as the Medical Council of India submitted that they have no objection to appearance of students in the third year examination, who fulfill the norms fixed by the Medical Council of India and are eligible, to appear in the examination. However, such students, who do not fulfill the norms fixed by the Medical Council of India, cannot be permitted to appear in the examination. Learned counsel for the College submitted that 40 students including 14 of the petitioners are eligible to appear in the examinations who fulfill the criteria with regard to attendance and the internal examination and the College has no objection in permitting the aforesaid students to appear in the examination.
9. I have considered the submissions made on both sides. Admittedly, the order dated 10.10.2019 is subject matter of challenge in W.P. No.50224/2019. Therefore, in view of the aforesaid subsequent development, the reliefs sought for by the petitioners in the instant review petitions have lost its efficacy. Besides this, the order does not suffer from any error apparent on the face of record. In view of the submissions made by learned counsel for the Medical Council of India, College as well as the University that they have no objection to those students, who fulfill the criteria fixed by the Medical Council of India, to appear in the 3rd year examination, I deem it appropriate to permit those students, who fulfill the eligibility criteria which is fixed by the Medical Council of India, to appear for the examination to which, neither the Medical Council of India nor the University as well as the College has no objection. However, the remaining students, who may not be eligible, are granted liberty to take recourse to such remedy as may be available to them in law.
With the aforesaid directions, the review petitions are disposed of.
Sd/- JUDGE Kms