JOIN USAdvocate M L Lahoti, appearing before a bench headed by Justice R V Raveendran for the petitioners, sought urgent relief to the students who were for quashing the decision. The petition filed by Dr Anil Sharma and eight others said the decision of the state governments had violated the decisions of the apex court’s Constitutional Bench in Dr Pradeep Jain, Indra Sawhney and Saurabh cases, which said that there could be no reservation in super-speciality courses in any field.
The medical universities of Karnataka, West Bengal, Orissa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have published admission rules and issued prospectus, reserving seats in super-speciality courses of Doctor of Medicine(DM) and Master of Chirugige (M Ch) on the basis of place of birth, in- service quota and institutional preference, said the petition.
“The reservation of seats in super-speciality courses has been strongly deprecated by the Supreme Court in the larger national interests. The court had held that merit alone should be the criterion for admission in super-speciality courses,” the doctors said in their petition.
The reservation, particularly on the basis of place of birth and institutional preference, have been expressly struck down by declaring the said mechanism as ultra vires and repugnant to Articles 14 and 15 (1) of the Constitution of India, according to the petition.
Dr Anil Sharma had completed his MBBS course from Jawarharlal Nehru Medical College, Belgaum, in 2004 and thereafter completed his PG Course in general surgery in May, 2008 from JJMMC, Davangere, Karnataka.
Dr Saurabh Jain, has done an MBBS Course from Vijay Nagar Institute of Medical Sciences, Karanataka. He has also completed his PG Course from G R Medical College, Gwalior (MP).
As regards Karnataka, the petitioners submitted that even though the prospectus did not indicate any state-sponsored allocation of seats in favour of any category of candidates, in reality “in-service” candidates are preferred to general candidates.