MBBS admissions at GMCH-32: SC upholds removal of exemptions for wards of defence personnel

Apex court has turned down a plea by a serving Colonel’s daughter against Chandigarh administration’s July decision to remove exemptions allowed to wards of defence personnel

chandigarh@hindustantimes.com

The plea by Ananya Goswami, the daughter of a serving Colonel, was dismissed by the SC bench headed by justice Dr DY Chandrachud and justice Hima Kohli. The detailed order is awaited. (Shutterstock)

The UT administration will continue to provide MBBS admissions at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, as per the new eligibility criteria for wards of defence personnel that removed all exemptions for them under the “UT pool” category, as the Supreme Court dismissed the plea against the move on Friday.

UT’s new criteria benefit only those wards of defence personnel who had permanent residence in Chandigarh at the time of entry into service.

The plea by Ananya Goswami, the daughter of a serving Colonel, was dismissed by the SC bench headed by justice Dr DY Chandrachud and justice Hima Kohli. The detailed order is awaited.

“SC on Friday said that the UT had made changes in the notification way before the prospectus was out in public domain. The exemptions were removed as per notification dated July 15, 2022, while the prospectus was released on October 7 this year. The decision was rightfully taken by the administration after considering the fact that UT pool seats were being thrown open for all defence category students even when they didn’t have any relation with Chandigarh at all,” said senior standing counsel Anil Mehta, who appeared on behalf of UT, along with KM Nataraj, additional solicitor general of India.

GMCH-32 is the only college in Chandigarh that is offering an MBBS course.

Out of the total 150 MBBS seats at the college, 15% are for all-India quota or “central pool” and the remaining 85% (115 ) fall under “UT pool”, which are filled locally by the admission committee as per the criteria fixed by the UT administration.

For eligibility under UT pool, the candidate must have completed Classes 10, 11 and 12 from schools or colleges recognised by the Chandigarh administration and situated in the UT. But candidates whose parents are residents of Chandigarh for the past five years, immediately preceding the date of application, are eligible, even if they do not meet the first criterion.

As per the third criteria, candidates whose parents are government employees in the city or central government/state government employees on deputation to Chandigarh are also eligible. This includes employees working in autonomous bodies/companies in which Chandigarh administration has 20% or more share, for the past three years, immediately preceding the date of application, even if they do not satisfy the first two criteria.

What the plea said

The petitioner’s counsel, Amar Vivek Aggarwal, had submitted that all through since 1992, the Chandigarh administration had been following Centre’s directives and granting the waiver of domiciliary conditions to category of wards of defence personnel. It did not mandate them to pass Class 10+2 from Chandigarh schools and had been treating them as UT pool candidates against 85% admission quota. The Chandigarh administration had itself framed a scheme in September 2007, giving special consideration to defence personnel’s wards.

However, on July 15, UT came out with a notification restricting the defence personnel benefits only to those who had permanent residences in Chandigarh at the time of entry into service. The requisite certificate for permanent address issued by the respective competent authority will be considered as proof.

What spurred UT’s decision

In 2007, the UT home department had waived the domiciliary restrictions of minimum stay in Chandigarh and condition of passing Classes 10 to 12 from the city in respect of wards of serving defence personnel and ex-servicemen seeking admission in UT institutions.

A year later, the administration had decided to provide admissions to the wards of service defence personnel at GMCH-32 under 85% UT pool quota.

But UT was forced to reconsider the exemptions after some people challenged them in Punjab and Haryana high court after many as 20 wards of defence personnel got admissions in the 2021-22 academic session due to exemptions from the eligibility criteria. Some of them do not belong to Chandigarh or have never studied in Chandigarh schools or colleges.