St John’s Medical College to fill up mgmt seats

From http://deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov112005/state19185220051110.asp
St John’s Medical College to fill up mgmt seats : by DH News Service Bangalore:

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday declared that Bangalore-based St John’s Medical College is free to fill up all the seats in the post-graduate medical courses under the management quota. This order, however, would be effective from the next academy year.

Meanwhile, the court granted relief to the students admitted to the college under the Government quota during the academic years 2004-05 and 2005-06 by not disturbing their admissions.

A division bench comprising Justice B Padmaraj and Justice V Jagannathan delivered the verdict on the petitions filed by the students and the college management.

Government quota : Students, admitted under the Government quota had questioned denial of admission by the college. On the other hand, the college, claiming autonomous status on being a minority institution, had questioned government’s power to allot students.

More students : By virtue of this judgement, the college, which has been permitted by the Medical Council of India to admit only 56 students for both the PG degree and diploma courses in an academic year, will have to accommodate 82 students. Both the MCI and the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences have to approve these admissions.

The college, contending that it had the right to fill up all the seats, had admitted 56 students during last two academic years. On the contrary, the Government had refused the contention of the college and had allotted 26 students in each academic year under its quota.

No power : While relaying upon the recent verdicts of the Apex Court, the division bench held that the Government can not force the college, which is a minority autonomous institution, to surrender 50 per cent of its seats to the Government’s seat sharing and reservation policies. “Forcing the institution for government quota in the form of any Act or the Rules or the regulations by the Medical Council of India would be violative of Article 30 of the Constitution”, the court held.

However, the bench said that the admissions already made under the Government quota can not be disturbed at this stage. The Court approved the admission of all 82 students saying that all of them were meritorious, selected as per the norms and admitted by virtue of various interim orders passed by the High Court and the Supreme Court. The Court also directed the college to allow all the students, who are pursuing various courses, to complete their courses.

College warned : Meanwhile, the division bench warned the college to be careful in future and always respect the law. The bench made this observation while dismissing a contempt of court petition filed by some of the students against Principal of the college for denying admissions to them despite interim orders of the court.