The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : PGCET: High Court dismisses students' plea; stay vacated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 11, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

PGCET: High Court dismisses students' plea; stay vacated

Staff Reporter

Students had challenged the annulment of their ranks in the entrance test by the State Government

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday dismissed the writ appeal by 13 postgraduate medical students challenging the annulment of their ranks in the postgraduate common entrance test (PGCET) 2006 by the State Government.

The court also vacated an interim stay granted last month by a single judge on the annulment of the ranks of three students — Nitesh R. Desai and two others.

While one single judge had upheld the action of the State Government in annulling the ranks of the students, another judge had granted relief to three students by granting an interim stay on further proceedings against them.

While the students who had failed to obtain relief had filed an appeal, the State had filed an interlocutory application seeking vacation of the stay.

Malpractice

The State Government had annulled the ranks of 21 postgraduate students after a three-member committee had gone into the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the examination by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

The committee, in its report, had said prime facie there appeared to be enough material to establish that malpractices had occurred during the examination.

The State had accepted the report of the panel and annulled the ranks of those students allegedly found guilty of malpractice.

The students had then moved the High Court for relief, saying that no notice had been served on them and that they were not guilty of any malpractice.

The High Court initially constituted a Special Bench of Justice Veerabhadraiah and Justice N. Kumar during the vacation period of the court to hear both the appeal and the interlocutory application.

The Bench had ordered issue of notice to the State Government and the RGUHS.

Later, another Bench comprising Justice Ajit Gunjal and Justice V. Jagannathan adjourned the matter to May 9. A Bench comprising Justice D.V. Shylendra Kumar and Justice A.C. Kabbin heard the matter on that day and posted it to Wednesday.

On Wednesday, a special hearing of the case was held as the counselling for PGCET was expected to commence.

Both the parties — the students and the Government — placed their arguments before the Bench for almost the entire day.The students, B.E. Sandeep and twelve others, claimed that no notice was given to them and that they were made a scapegoat. They said it was routine for some section of students to complain of malpractice every year during the conduct of such examinations.

They said the complaint of malpractice was not made to the RGUHS but to the Governor, who then referred the matter to the Government.

The students said there was no adequate material for the State to annul their ranks. Nor were there sufficient grounds to prove any malpractice.

Besides, the findings of the committee were not based on facts.

The students also appealed against the single judge order.

Material

On its part, the Government said it had adequate material to prove that malpractice in the examination did take place. It placed the report before the court.

Advocate-General Uday Holla, who appeared for the Government, opposed any relief to the students, saying that malpractice in the examination had been established.

Mr. Holla also urged the Bench to vacate the interim stay given to three postgraduate students. The Bench accepted the arguments of the State and dismissed the writ appeals, saying that it did not find any sufficient reason to interfere with the single judge order dismissing the writ petitions. The Bench, which dictated the judgment in the court hall, also vacated the interim stay given to three students by another single judge.

It also wanted the inquiry into the malpractices to be completed within two weeks.

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