In a significant judgment the Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday directed the State Government to redo the process of admission to Post Graduate (PG) Course of Goa Dental College (GDC).
Upholding the pleas of Gaurau Nagarcekar, the Division Bench of Justices B P Dharmadhikari and U D Salvi directed that entire process to the PG should be done again.
Nagarcekar had pointed out that the Dental Council of India (DCI) rules should regulate the admission process in addition to the State rules. His counsel Mahesh Sonak submitted that he was eliminated from the selection process after State Government made 60 per cent weightage for the specialized subject mandatory from this academic year.
The Division Bench observed that DCI regulations cover admission process and hence the State Government could not legislate on the matter.
Under DCI regulations, Nagarcekar was eligible to be considered and entitled to admission. However, with implementation of Goa Rules wherein 60 per cent weightage attached to the speciality subject criteria, Nagarcekar lost out to a student who ranked much lower; in fact Nagarcekar became ineligible, the High Court pointed out.
The court felt that this clause was not in addition to the DCI regulation but repugnant to it and rejected submission of the State Government that the petitioner had approached the court late.
Apparently, the State Government had agreed to review this clause on February 17, 2009 and had addressed a communiqué to DCI but there was no response from DCI.
The plea of the State Government to apply the judgment prospectively for future years was also turned down by the Bench.
Courtesy: Herald
