Supreme Court: The matter where the appellants had challenged the order cancelling the admissions to Medical Institutes in the wake of the VYAPAM Scam, has been placed before the Chief Justice of India owing to the split decision given by the bench of J. Chelameswar and A.M. Sapre, JJ on the issue that whether Article 142 of the Constitution be invoked in order to allow the appellants to complete their education to satisfy the demands of justice as the future of 634 students was at stakes.
Chelameswar, J, considering that the knowledge of these appellants would be simply rendered useless for the society in the sense their knowledge cannot be utilized for the welfare of the society, said that the appellants be allowed to complete their education. However, he added that it would serve the larger public interests, by making the appellants serve the nation for a period of five years as and when they become qualified doctors, without any regular salary and attendant benefits of service under the State, nor any claim for absorption into the service of the State subject of course to the payment of some allowance (either in cash or kind) for their survival. He also suggested that they serve the Indian Armed Services and that they be handed over the certificates of their medical degrees only after they complete the abovementioned five years.
Sapre, J., on the other hand, said that no case was made out for passing any directions under Article 142 of the Constitution as grant of any equitable relief may be construed as awarding premium to the appellants of what they did. It would demoralize the meritorious students who could not secure the admission on their merit due to the appellants’ entry in the Colleges by illegal means. He, however, said that the State may consider permitting the appellants and other candidates alike the appellants to appear in the competitive examination whenever it is held and consider granting age relaxation to those candidates who crossed the age limit, if prescribed. He was of the view that it is the collective responsibility of the Government (Central/States), educational bodies/Institutions to ponder over and evolve a uniform policy in a comprehensive manner to firmly deal with such activities in the larger public good. [Nidhi Kaim v. State of Madhya Pradesh, 2016 SCC OnLine SC 547, decided on 12.05.2016]