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Synopsis

The Supreme Court has held that a court’s action should not ordinarily cause prejudice to anyone, as it came to the aid of a student whose admission to the BAMS course was cancelled despite having completed the course. The cancellation was based on the fact that he did not have English as a subject in his 10+2 qualification at the time of admission.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Augustine George Masih said though there can be no dispute with the proposition that fulfilling the basic eligibility for admission to a course is a sine qua non, which ought not to be overlooked or ignored, the peculiar facts of the case on hand ought to have weighed with the high court while considering the plight of the appellant, Zaid Sheikh.

"An act of the Court should, ordinarily, not prejudice anyone (Actus curiae neminem gravabit). This is a fundamental principle of justice, but it was disregarded by the High Court while considering the case of the appellant," the bench said.  

Allowing his appeal, the court set aside the Madhya Pradesh High Court's division bench judgment of June 18, 2014, and August 1, 2014, which dismissed his writ and review petitions.

The court noted his initial admission in the first college was in clear violation of the Madhya Pradesh Ayurveda/Unani/Homeopathy Undergraduate Entrance Examination Rules - 2008, which prescribed the eligibility condition that candidates of all categories and classes were required to have passed English as a subject in the qualifying examination of 10+2. 

However, the said college came to be de-recognised and all the students of that college were transferred to the Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical College, Ujjain, and the appellant was allowed to pass English as a subject in Class 12, when he was provisionally admitted by the said college. 

"That fact ought to have been given more weightage by the High Court. More so, as the appellant had acted upon the allotment letter and reappeared for the Class 12 examination, twice over, with English as a subject and had passed it," the bench said.

The court also noted though, the interim order granted by the high court on October 30, 2012 recorded that the appellant would not be entitled to claim equities, the fact that he was permitted to complete the entire course and had also finished part of his mandatory internship ought not to have been brushed aside lightly.   

"Be it noted that the appellant had put in nearly 6 years by then in pursuing BAMS Degree Course and the end result of the High Court’s order was to decimate his entire labour of all those years," the bench said. 

The appellant's "so-called" ineligibility, which was not essential in the context of the course that he had taken, was cured by him thereafter owing to the liberty given by the college itself while provisionally admitting him to the course in September 2012. "Given these peculiar facts, we are of the opinion that this is a fit case for interference so that the appellant is not left out in the cold after completing almost the entire course", the bench said.

The bench finally directed the appellant should be permitted to complete his course and internship in Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical College, Ujjain, and the authorities concerned should thereafter issue him his BAMS Degree in accordance with due procedure.

The appellant almost completed his education under the protection of interim orders granted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court but was ultimately shown the door, when his writ petition was dismissed by the high court.

The appellant completed his High School Education (10+2) in the year 2008 from the Madhya Pradesh Sanskrit Board, Bhopal. 

He appeared in the Pre-Ayurvedic, Homeopathic, and Unani Entrance Test, 2008, and secured admission to BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) degree course in Smt Dhairya Prabha Devi Sojatia Ayurvedic Medical College at Neemthur in Tehsil Bhanpura, District Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, in September, 2008. 

He completed the first-year course and secured 940 marks out of 1600. Meanwhile, Smt Dhairya Prabha Devi Sojatia Ayurvedic Medical College at Neemthur came to be derecognised. The students of the said college were transferred to Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical College at Ujjain in July 2012. However, the appellant was not given this benefit on the ground that he was actually ineligible to be admitted to the BAMS degree course as he had not taken and passed 'English' as a subject in his 10+2 examination.    

Challenging the decision, he filed the subject writ petition before the high court in October 2012. Pursuant to the interim orders passed therein on October 30, 2012, he was permitted to attend classes. 

Surprisingly, the Principal of Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical College, Ujjain, had issued allotment letter on September 19, 2012 to the appellant even before the filing of his writ petition. He informed the appellant that he had been transferred to and admitted to BAMS 3rd Prof. in the said college and directed him to present himself within three days along with requisite documents and the prescribed fee for taking admission.  

Significantly, the appellant was required to either produce his pass certificate in proof of having taken English as a subject and passing the same or in the event he failed to do so, he was provisionally admitted subject to the condition that he would pass English as a subject in Class 12.

The appellant re-appeared for the 12th class examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Madhya Pradesh, in March 2013. He took English as a subject and passed it by securing 70 marks. 

Apart from this examination, he also appeared in the Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and the Provisional Certificate issued by the said Institute on June 05, 2014, demonstrated that he passed the said examination with the subjects - English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Hindi.

The appellant had pursued the entire studies of the BAMS degree course and had also completed part of his mandatory internship at the time his writ petition was dismissed. 

The high court non-suited the appellant on the ground that he was initially ineligible to be admitted to the BAMS degree course as he had not taken and passed ‘English’ as a subject in the qualifying examination of 10+2, the bench noted. 

The high court was apprised of the fact that the appellant had again taken the 12th class examination with English as a subject and had passed the same during the pendency of the writ petition but it was not persuaded to hold in his favour. The appellant’s entreaty to review the dismissal of his writ petition was peremptorily rejected by the bench on the ground that there was no error apparent on the face of the record.

Case Title: Zaid Sheikh Vs The State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors