THE DENTAL COUNCIL OF INDIA v. SUBHARTI K.K.B. CHARITABLE TRUST AND ANR

Citation: [2001] 3 S.C.R. 149

Court: Supreme Court of India

Bench: M.B. SHAH, S.N. VARIAVA

Judgment text

THE DENTAL COUNCIL OF INDIA v. SUBHARTI K. K. B. CHARITABLE TRUST AND ANR. APRIL 25, 2001 [M. B. SHAH AND S. N. VARIAVA, JJ. ] Education: Educational Institution-Dental College-Establishment of- Respondent sought permission to admit I00 students-Central Government . grants permission for 60 students only-But High Court granting approval for JOO students-Held, not justified-Normally courts not to issue mandamus straightway-Rather the courts could remit matter for reconsideration- Dentists Act, I948-Section IOA. Private institutions-Establishment of-Restrictions-Necessity of :0 Constitution of India, 1950-Article 226-Writ jurisdiction-Exercise of-Inte1ference with decision ofexpert bodies-Only to limited extent-Not to straightway issue mandamus-Except to set right arbitrmy exercise of power by the authorities-Otherwise matter may be remitted for reexamination. Respondents-t111! >1 applied to Central Government for establishment of new Dental College for 100 students.

Ins11ection Committee of the appellantscouncil acknowledged that the Dental College had satisfied the qualifying criteria but it recommended for establishing the college with 60 students. Central Government granted permission to the responder. t-trust for sta11ing college with 60 students only. Respondents-t111st filed a writ petition before High Court for a duration to the Central Government and ap11ellant-council to accord approval for the establishment of Dental College with annual batch of 100 students instead of 60 students. The writ petition was allowed on the ground that the ap11ellant-Council has acted arbitrarily since the institution has all infrastructure and facilities for admitting 100 students as per the guidelines of appellant-Council. Another writ petition was filed by the respondents-trust. It was submitted that despite approving the strength of 100 students of 1st and 2nd year were not allowed to a1>pear in the examination in 'iew of the special leave petition.

High Court directed appellant-Council to allow the students of BDS course of 1st and 2nd year to appear in the examination pnnisionally. It also directed the appellant-Council of India to get an inspection done of the institution. Against the above-said orders on the writ petitions the present appeals as well as the transfer case have been filed. The appellant-Council contended that its recommendations to the Central Government not to grant renewal of the College and limiting students strenf:,rth at 60 was valid, just, proper and legal and further the courts should be slow to interfere in the decision of ex1>ert bodies like the appellant-Council and Medical Council of India. Respondent-Trust contended that the College established has all infrastructure required as per the statutory rules and guidelines for the strength of 100 students and so the 1>ermission should be granted. Dis1>osing of the matters, the Comi HELD: 1. 1.

Writ of mandamus was issued by the High Court to accord approval to the Dental College for admitting annually a batch of 100 students instead of 60 students. The current status of the facilities in the college . , . would justify grant of permission to admit u1>to 100 students in the first year and renewal for second, third and fomih year BDS course. As the operation of the said order was not i. 1ayed, it would not be . iust and proper to disturb the admissions granted by the Dental College. [153-G] 1. 2. The students for the academic session 1997-98 were admitted after January 1998 and for the 1998-99 after June 1999. The teaching in the College has been suspended by the order of the court. The students of first batch studied for 2Yz years, second batch for lYz years and third batch for 6 months res1>ectively. Therefore, the students would only be permitted to sit in the examinations as per the regulations of the appellant-Council laying down the requitement of attendance.

[165-C-D] State of HP and Others v. Himachal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Shim/a, [1998) 8 SCC 501, relied on. 2. Court normally should not interfere with the decision taken by the ex1>ert bodies like the Medical Council of India or the Dental Council of India ' by straightway issuing mandamus directing the authority to grant approval or permission to establish such institution. Court's . iurisdiction to interfere DENTAL COUNCIL OF INDIA v. SUBHARTI K. K. B. CHARITABLE TRUST 151 with the discretion exercised by such expert body is limited even though right to education is concomitant to the fundamental right enshrined in Part . ,, ID of the Constitution of India. But where such bodies act arbitrarily for some ulterior purpose, the Court has the power to set right such arbitrary . exercises of power by such authorities.

It can remit the matter to the Dental Council of India for re-inspection of the establishment and for reconsideration by the Central Government rather than to issue a writ of mandamus straightway. [160-F; 159-F] Medical Council ofIndia v. State ofHimachal Pradesh, [2000) 5 SCC 63; Union of India v. Era Educational Trust and Am:, [2000) 5 SCC 57; Medical Council ofIndia v. State ofKarnataka and Ors. , [1998) 6 SCC 131 : ermitted to have educational 'shops' in the country.

But the fact to be accepted is that for establishing educational institutions, government machinery or funds are ~ neither sufficient nor adequate and the necessity of the private institutions cannot be denied because unless there are proper educational facilities in ~ ~I }-' I the society, it would be difficult to meet with the requirements of younger generation who have keen desire to acquire knowledge and education to compete in the global market Therefore, there are statutory prohibitions for establishing and administering educational institutions without prior permission or approval by the concerned authority. (160-C; 159-F; 160-D) CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 3295 of 2001. From the Judgment and Order dated 15. 9. 97 of the Allahabad High Court in CMWP 25780/97. WITH Civil Appeal Nos. 3296-97 of2001. AND Transfer Petition (C) No. 437of1999. Harish N. Salve, Solicitor General, K. N. Rawal, Additional Solicitor General, Subodh Markendeya, Shanti Bhushan, R. K.

Jain, Maninder Singh, . , Pratibha M. Singh, Ms. Kavita Wadia, Ankur Talwar, Chitra Markendeya, Nohan Babu Aganval, Alok Gupta, Mizz Feroza Bano, Ashok Agarwal, M. A. Chinnasamy, Anuj Bjhuwaria, Sanjai Kumar, Manmohan, Ms. Bina Gupta, Rakhi Ray, D. K. Jain and Ms. Reeta Chaudhary for the appearing parties. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SHAH, J. Leave granted. Dental Council of India has challenged the order dated 15. 9. 1997 passed by the High Court of Allahabad [R. R. K. Trivedi and M. Katju, JJ] in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 25780 of 1997. The writ petition was filed by the respondent-Subharti K. K. B. Charitable Trust ("Trust" for short) who had established a Dental College at Meerut and applied to the Central Government for permission to commence teaching for academic year 1996- 97.

It was alleged that respondent-Trust was meeting the qualifying criteria stipulated in the guidelines issued by the Dental Council of India ("DCI" for short) regarding establishment ofnew Dental College having strength of I00 students. Inspection Committee of the Dental College of India gave report in favour of the establishment of college. However, the second Inspection Team while i , 'i acknowledging that the Dental College has satisfied the qualifying criteria, recommended for starting with the batch of 60 students only and on that j basis the Central Government granted permission to the respondent for starting college with 60 students only. Hence, respondent- Trust filed writ petition in ~ the High Court for a mandamus directing the Central Government and the DCI to accord approval to the establishment of Dental College with annual batch of 100 students instead of 60 students.

The Court observed that from the second report submitted by the Inspection Committee it appears that the Institution has complied with all the requirements for admitting a batch of 100 students, but strangely enough the comment given at the bottom of the '\' second report that the existing infrastructure in tern1s of land building, ) equipment and staff etc. was adequate for 60 admissions. The High Court also held that no proper reason was assigned as to why the DCI permitted only admission of 60 students instead of 100 students when the Institution has complied with all the requirements as per the guidelines of Dental Council of India for admitting 100 students. The Court, thernfore, held that the authority has acted arlJitrarily since despite the Institution's having all infrastructure and facilities for admitting 100 students as per the guidelines of Dental Council, it was allowed to admit only 60 students.

Finally, the Court allowed the writ petition by its judgment and order dated 15. 9. 1997 and its operative . ,.. part reads thus::- -r lid\ ,.. "In the present case, we find that the authorities have acted arbitrarily since despite the petitioner's having all the infrastructure and facilities for admitting 100 students as per the guidelines of the Dental Council, it was allowed to admit only 60 students. This action of the respondent is clearly arbitrary and illegal... A Mandamus is issued to the respondents to accord approval to the petitioners Dental College for admitting annually a batch of 100 students instead of 60 . J students. " That order is challenged in this appeal. Pending hearing in S. L. P. (C) No. 22222/97, the respondent filed another writ petition No. 8299/99 before the High Court. In that petition, the respondent submitted that the High Court vide order dated 15. 9.

1997 issued a writ of _, mandamus to the appellants herein to accord approval to the respondent's 1 Dental College for admitting annually a batch of 100 students instead of 60 students, but the appellants were not allowing the students of the batches . / to appear into 1st year and Ilnd year examination in 1998-99 on account of c. pendency of SLP (C) No. 22222/97 against the said order. The High Court by ~ ,_, order dated 26. 2. 1999 directed the appellants herein to allow the students of B. D. S. course of 1st year and Ilnd year to appear in the examination provisionally and the Director Central Medical Education, UP Lucknow was ~ directed to forward the names of the students in the BDS entrance test for 1998-99 forthwith. The High Court further by order dated 17. 4. 1999 directed t the DCI to get an inspection done of the institution in question by a ,_ Commission, which consisted (1) District Judge, Meerut or any Addl. Distt.

Judge nominated by him; (2) Principal, Medical College, Lucknow or any suitable person nominated by him: and (3) Dr. K. K. Malhotra (member DCI) Professor in Lucknow Dental C0llege, Lucknow, and to submit report after inspecting the College. Against orders dated 26. 2. 99 and 17. 4. 99, DCI preferred "j S. L. P. (C) No. 8464-65of1999 along with Transfer Petition (C) No. 437/99 for transfer of WP. No. 8299/99 before this Court. This Court passed various interim orders. , On 23rd July 1999, after hearing learned counsel for the parties, this Court passed the following order:- "Learned counsel for the petitioner is . permitted to file an additional affidavit alongwith the inspection report of the Dental Council. The High Court has appointed another Committee to inspect the college headed by the learned District Judge. We direct the Committee headed ... 'by the learned District Judge to send its report within two weeks.

If ~ the inspection by the learned District Judge has not already taken place, the learned District Judge will give notice to both parties, complete the inspection as directed by the High Court and send the report of inspection within two weeks. Copies of the report to be given to both sides. Issue notice on the transfer petition. Learned counsel for the petitioner is permitted to serve notice on the respective learned standing counsel ·' '· for the respondent in this court additionally. " On 3. 5. 2000, this Court passed the following order: "For the first year batch 1998-99, the respondent had an order of the High Court for admission of students. There was neither any order of the Court nor of any other authority for permission to conduct its own examination for admission for 1999-2000. But the respondent ' conducted an entrance examination for the two batches for 1998-1999 ,_ and 1999-2000.

" H• Prima facie, we are not inclined to pass any orders in favour of the respondent college, so far these two batches are concerned. The respondent college is direct to suspend classes for these two batches 4 of 1998-1999 and 1999,. 2000, until further orders. -f The next question is with regard to the first year batches 1996- 97 and 1997-98, who have now completed two years and also the course for 3rd year and are awaiting the 3rd year examination. : So far as admission for 1996-1997 batch is concerned, permission was granted by the Dental Council of India, for 60 students and for the remaining 40 students, the High Court of Allahabad appears to *. have granted an order in favour of the respondent institution. ;. So far as the first year batch for 1997-1998 is concerned there was no order of the Court for admission of students. But the respondent ...

relies only upon an order in respect of 1998- 1999, and by implication assumed that, for 1997-1998, it must be treated that there is an order for admission, and proceeded to admit 100 students for 1997-1998. It is contended that the students who have been admitted for first year batch 1997-1998 were from a list given by the Director General, Medical Education, UP, as per the statement made by the respondents -1'. -f before us. The Director General of Medical Education, UP will verify and confirm to this Court whether the second year batch of students admitted by the respondents institution for the year 1997-1998 was from the list furnished by the . said Director General, on the basis of merit at entrance examination. "In case, it is found that the 1997-1998 batch of first year students have been admitted from a list given by the Director General as above mentioned, then we could consider the question whether they should be pem1itted to take the third year examination.

As stated earlier, the two batches for 1996-97 and 1997- 98 have completed the first year and second year courses. Question will be if they should be permitted to take their examination in November-December, 2000. So far as the examination of May, 2000 in the third year is concerned, we are not inclined to grant permission to these students of the first year batch of 1996-1997 and 1997-1998, but question of their taking the examination of May, 2000, will be decided at the next date of hearing after verifying if the 1997-98 first year batch was from _/ merit list. By that time, we will be having the fresh inspection report also. So far as fresh inspection is concerned, there have been several .. inspection officers appointed by the Dental Council of India earlier. There have also been certain inspections done under the orders of the ~ Court by the District Judge and another Committee which is supposed to have accompanied the District Judge.

Now, we would like to have a fresh inspection report and a final one. It will be necessary to inspect once for all, to ascertain whether all the necessary conditions for grant ofpermission for conducting the course for the first, second, third and fourth year are satisfied and whether all the necessary infrastrucfare is available with the colleges in respect of the courses for the four years, including faculty and other staff. We, therefore, ? direct a fresh inspection by a Committee, as specified lower down in -'" this order. The inspection will be made in respect ofthe new premises which ... has been constructed by the institution, which is situated at Meerut Municipality. The inspection team will also inspect the hospital, which is supposed to be attached to these institutions. It is made clear that the Dental Council will give their final report once for all in respect He also referred to a three-Judge Bench decision of this Court in State ofMaharashtra v.

Vikas Sahebrao Roundale and others, [1992] 4 SCC 435 . wherein it was held that the students of unrecognized and unauthorized educational institutions could not have been permitted by the High Court on a writ petition being filed to appear in examination and to be aq:ommodated in recognized institutions. The Court observed "slackening the standard and judicial fiat to control the mode of education and examining system are detrimental to the efficient management of the education". :/ Similarly in Guru Nanak Dev University v. Parminder Kr. Bansal, [1993] 4 SCC 401, another three-Judge Bench ofthis Court interfered with the interim order passed by the High Court to allow students to undergo internship course even without passing the MBBS examination. It was held that "the courts should not embarrass academic authorities by themselves taking over their functions. " In A. P. Christians Medical Educational Society v. Govt. of A. P.

, [1986] 2 SCC 667 this Court observed that the Court cannot by its fiat ) direct the University to disobey the statute to which it owes its existence and the regulations made by the University itself as that would be destructive of the rule of law. There cannot be any dispute that nom1ally the court should not interfere with the functioning of the educational institutions, particularly, expert bodies like the MCI or the DCI. Still, however, the question is posed that if such bodies act arbitrarily for some ulterior purpose, whether the court has the power to set right such arbitrary exercise of power by such authorities. We find the answer to this question in the affirmative. We also agree with the ,,, ~. learned Solicitor General that educational institutions should not be permitted to be commercialized for earning money, but at the same time, the courts can do very little in this field as it is the function of the expert bodies, such as, ..

Medical Council of India or the Dental Council of India. However, citizens would loose faith in such institutions if the allegations made in this appeal are repeatedly made with regard to the Inspection Reports and granting of approval by the Central Government. We leave this question for the Central Government to deal with appropriately as it is the function of the concerned authorities to plug the loopholes and see that in such matters nothing hanky panky happens. In this case, learned Solicitor General Mr. Salve submitted that apart from previous inspection reports and the report of the inspection team >constituted by this Court's order dated 3. 5. 2000 pointing out number of deficiencies in the D~ntal College, certain deficiencies were still found. Therefore, the recommendations of the Dental Council to the Central Government not to grant renewal of the College and limiting students strength at 60 were valid, just, proper and legal. Finally, on 12. 4.

2001, when the matter came up for hearing, it was brought to our notice that still DCI has raised certain objections. As it was contended by Mr. Shanti Bhushan learned senior e asis in accordance with the rules, provided he ;. is satisfied that sufficient time is available prior to examination ' for completing requisite number of classes as per the regulations ofDCI. Since parties have agreed to the above directions, we order accordingly. But we make it clear that this order is passed in peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case and will not be treated as a precedent. r· Now, considering the aforesaid agreed order, the next question pertains . ,. , to the students who are admitted by the respondent-College for the academic year 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

It was submitted that as the College has granted admission to hundred students for each acadelnic year despite the fact that DCI has granted permission to admit only 90 students, the Court may pass appropriate order so that the Institution does not take statutory regulation for granted and use the Educational Institution for commercial purpose of making money. As against this, learned senior counsel Mr. Shanti Bhushan submitted J.. that the Institution has given admission to 100 students on the basis of the order passed by the High Court of Allahabad and, therefore, it would not be • just to hold that Institution has acted de hors the statutory regulations. He pointed out that this Court has not stayed the operation of the impugned order passed by the Allahabad High Court.

It has been pointed out that respondent College functions on 'no profit no loss' basis and ii would not be in the interest of society to drag the management to a situation where it may be compelled to close down the institution. In any case, it would be a ).. great loss ofpublic money besides jeopardising the career of students admitted. ' For this purpose, he referred to State ofH. P. and others v. Himachal Institute ofEngineering and Technology, Shim/a, [1998] 8 SCC 501 and submitted that in such . a situation either the seats must remain vacant and be wasted or the management must be permitted to fill those seats on a reasonabie criteria adopted by the management. He submitted that an effective solution has to be found out as observed by this Court, otherwise the Institution would not ~ be able to meet the expenses for running the professional course and would be placed on the Hobson 's choice of either suffering huge losses or closing down the Institution.

It is his contention that ultimately after establishment "- • of college, for running it, the finance has to come from those students as per the Scheme envisaged in Unni ! 6-ishnan 's case (Supra). In this case, Central Government undisputedly has granted approval for establishing Dental College to the respondent-Trust. Only question was whether students' strength should be 100 as contended by the Trust or 60 as contended by the DCI. Hence, considering the peculiar facts of this case, particularly, the order passed by the High Court of Allahabad on 5. 9. 1997 issuing a mandamus to accord approval to the Dental College for admitting annually a batch of 100 students instead of 60 students and the fact that this Court has not stayed the operation of the said order and also the further orders passed by the High Court on 26. 2. 99 and 17. 4. 99 in Writ Petition No. 8299/99, we do not think that it would be just and proper to disturb the admissions granted by the Dental College.

Some irregularities are taken care of in the afore-stated agreed order. Further, it has been pointed out that the students for the academic session 1997-98 were admitted much after January 1998 and similarly, the students for the academic session 1998-99 were admitted after June 1999. The teaching in the college has been suspended by this Court's order dated 3. 5. 2000. As such, the students of the first academic session, uptil now, have only studied for a period of 2Yi years, the students of t. l1e second batch have studied for 1Yi years and the students of the third batch have studied for approximately 6-months. Hence, it is ordered that these . l .... students would only be permitted to sit in the examinations as per the regulations of the Dental Council of India laying down the requirement of attendance of minimum classes for each year for the four years duration of the BDS course. In view of the foregoing, the Civil Appeals arising out of SLP (Civil) Nos.

22222 of 1997 and 8464-8465 of 1999 stand disposed ofaccordingly. The Transfer Petition No. 437of1999 is also allowed; writ petition No. 8299of1999 1. pending before the High Court stands transferred to this Court and is disposed ' of accordingly. There will be no order as to costs. F' N. J. C. A. 3295/2001 and C. A. Nos. 3296-97/2001 disposed of. Transfer Petition No. 437/99 all0wed.