PUNE: The Bombay high court has ordered a stay on the Maharashtra University of Health Science's (MUHS) decision to dislodge 104 students from the M A Rangoonwala dental college here on the grounds that their admissions last year (2013-14) were effected without permission.
In an ad interim relief granted on August 14, the high court division bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and Anuja Prabhudesai has directed the MUHS to declare the results of the first year exam of 57 of these students from the bachelor of dental surgery (BDS) course and to allow 47 others from the master of dental surgery (MDS) course to appear for their university exam and declare their results.
According to the court's order, all these students are allowed to complete the full term of their courses during the pendency and final disposal of the writ petition, which is now posted for next hearing on September 26.
The college is run by the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society (MCES), a minority institution. It admitted the 104 students to BDS/MDS courses through an institutional level common entrance test. In doing so, the college had relied on the Supreme Court's December 13, 2012 and May 13, 2013 orders in relation to the rights of minority institutions.
On July 18, the MUHS communicated to the college that these 104 students were dislodged from their courses. The university cited the June 20 order of the state-appointed Pravesh Niyantran Samiti (PNS) denying its approval to the 104 admissions. The samiti's order was based on the university's enquiry and suggestion that these admissions were effected without permission. The MUHS decision impacted the students who had completed 15 months of their 4-year BDS and 3-year MDS courses. The results of the BDS students were not declared.
P A Inamdar, president of MCES, filed a writ petition in the high court against the MUHS decision, stating that the college was not given any opportunity or a hearing before such extreme step. "We had to challenge the decision as the authorities seemed ignorant about the constitutional rights of the minority institutions," he told TOI on Saturday.
Incidentally, the high court had passed two orders on February 4 and April 3 that permitted the college to conduct its own common entrance test at institutional level for the 2014-15 admissions.
In its three-page order, the bench observed, "We have noted that both the authorities (MUHS and PNS) admittedly have not given any opportunity (to the college). We are not concerned at this stage with the power of such authorities but, definitely concerned with the procedure and modality that they have adopted before passing such drastic order affecting the students."
Referring to the reply and oral argument on behalf of the MUHS, the bench observed, "The justification, even if any, just cannot be supplemented in reply and oral argument. We have to consider the rival contentions in view of the position (taken by MUHS) apart from the pendency of litigation/issues in the Supreme Court as well as in this court regarding the power of such institution to conduct examination at their own level."
The Issue
Last year, Rangoonwala dental college admitted 104 students to BDS/MDS courses through an institutional level common entrance test
In effecting these admissions, the college relied on the Supreme Court's December 13, 2012 and May 13, 2013 orders regarding the rights of minority institutions
Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), which conducted an enquiry, directly conveyed to the Pravesh Niyantran Samiti (PNS) that these admissions were without permission
June 20: PNS passed an order denying its all important approval to these admissions
July 18: MUHS communicated to the college that the students concerned are dislodged from their courses. The results of the first-year examination of 57 BDS course students were withheld
Court's Observation
"We have noted that both the authorities (MUHS & PNS) admittedly have not given any opportunity (to the college). We are not concerned at this stage with the power of such authorities but, definitely concerned with the procedure and modality that they have adopted before passing such drastic order affecting the students."
- Bombay high court division bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and Anuja Prabhudesai on August 14
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