Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has disapproved of HC interim orders to keep a MBBS seat vacant in a medical college for a candidate alleging unfair denial of admission and said such a direction can be passed only in exceptional circumstances when a candidate presents a strong prima facie case.
This order was passed by a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan who faced a piquant situation when two colleges approached the SC saying the HC, which had kept seats reserved for candidates, dismissed the petitions later and as deadline for admission has been over, the seats will now remain vacant for the entire course period of five years, causing huge loss to them.
Writing the judgment, Justice Viswanathan said, “Only if there is a cast iron case for the petitioner and the petitioner is bound to succeed in cases where the error of the respondent authorities is so gross as to negate any other conclusion, interim orders keeping seats vacant could be made.”
The bench said courts certainly have the power to keep a seat reserved for candidates who have proved a prima facie strong case for their admission to a college, but court must do so with “great caution and circumspection”.
“In appropriate cases, even where the said exceptional criterion as set out above is met, the court will be justified in directing the petitioner to provide security, to the concerned college-institution where the seat is ultimately directed to be kept vacant or on whom ultimately the liability of the vacant seat would fall,” the bench said, adding if the petition is dismissed the security deposit could be given to the colleges to make good their financial loss.
Even when a seat is ordered to be kept vacant, the court passing the order to this effect must endeavour to decide the issue before conclusion of the counselling for admissions, it said.
“It should not be forgotten that while the recurring and non-recurring expenditure for a college remains the same, a vacant seat will deprive the college of the fees to that extent, not just for one year but for the whole course, which could be four, five or more years,” it said.
Not inclined to create an additional seat for the next academic session in lieu of the vacant seat, the bench asked the colleges to approach the statutory Fee Fixation Committee with a request to allow a marginal hike in the fee to compensate the loss resulting from a seat going vacant due to court orders.
