Mohamed Ibrahim & Ors vs Vinayaka Mission Univ.& Ors

MOHAMED IBRAHIM AND OTHERS ... APPELLANT(s)

Versus

VINAYAKA MISSION UNIVERSITY AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)

WITH

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2455 OF 2012 [ARISING OUT OF S.L.P. (C) NO. 25914 OF 2010]

VIJAY KUMAR KOLLURI AND OTHERS ... APPELLANT(s)

Versus

VINAYAKA MISSION UNIVERSITY AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)

WITH

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2456 OF 2012 [ARISING OUT OF S.L.P. (C) NO. 26236 OF 2010]

VINAYAK MISSION UNIVERSITY ... APPELLANT(s)

Versus

NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATIONS AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)

2

WITH

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2457 OF 2012 [ARISING OUT OF S.L.P. (C) NO. 19294 OF 2011]

SAIRAJA VAIKUNTH AND OTHERS ... APPELLANT(s)

Versus

VINAYAKA MISSION UNIVERSITY AND OTHERS . RESPONDENT(s)

J U D G M E N T

R.M. LODHA, J.

Permission to file Special Leave Petition is granted

in S.L.P. (C) No. 19294 of 2011.

2. I.A. No. 2 of 2012 - application for impleadment is

granted in S.L.P. (C) No. 26236 of 2010. Leave granted in

all the Special Leave Petitions.

3. We have heard Mr. G. Umapathy, learned counsel for

Vinayaka Mission University, Mr. K.Ramamoorthy, learned

senior counsel and Mr. Dinesh Dwivedi, learned senior

counsel for the students, Mr. R.F. Nariman, learned

Solicitor General for the Union of India and Mr. Amrendra

Sharan, learned senior counsel for the Medical Council of

India.

4. The Government of India, vide notification dated

October 10, 2006, accorded its approval to the proposal of

Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Salem, now Vinayaka

3

Mission University (for short "VMRF") as a deemed

University for starting an Off-shore Campus offering

medical programmes at Bangkok, Thailand with an intake

capacity and conditions of 100 undergraduate medical

students per annum on the terms and conditions mentioned in

the Memorandum of Understanding dated September 19, 2004

between VMRF and Rangsit University, Thailand. The approval

so granted was subject to certain conditions mentioned at

serial No. 9 of the endorsement of the above Notification.

The relevant conditions are as under:

"(i) Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University, Salem along with its constituent institutions and its off-shore campus in Bangkok, Thailand, will continue to abide by the norms and guidelines laid down and instructions issued from time to time by the University Grants Commission pertaining to institutions notified as Deemed to be Universities.

(ii) Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University's Bangkok, Thailand's Off-shore Campus shall be subjected to the laws of the land of Thailand as applicable.

(iii) The students studying at and passing out from the off-shore campus in Thailand shall be awarded degree by Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University, clearly distinguishing them (by stating that the degree awarded by Vinayak Mission's Research Foundation, Deemed University's Bangkok, Thailand Off-shore Campus) from the degrees awarded by the Deemed University in India.

(iv) All norms of Medical Council of India, wherever applicable, will continue to be in force and complied with.

(v) The students studying in and passing out

4

from the proposed Off-shore campus centre at Thailand would be treated as those holding a foreign medical degree and would be required to qualify the screening test as per the provisions of Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and Screening Test Regulations 2002 of Medical Council of India."

5. From the perusal of the above conditions, two things

become very clear, namely; (one) the degree shall be awarded

by the VMRF to the students studying at and passing of the

Off-shore Campus, Thailand by clearly stating that the

degree has been awarded by VMRF, Deemed University, Bangkok,

Thailand Off-shore campus and (two) the degree awarded to

the students shall be treated as a foreign medical degree

and such students would be required to qualify the screening

test as per the provisions of Indian Medical Council Act,

1956 and Screening Test Regulations, 2002 (for short "2002

Regulations") as Medical Council of India.

6. Admittedly, the provisional MBBS degree awarded to

the concerned students by the VMRF (Deemed University,

Bangkok, Thailand Off-shore Campus) is not a degree

recognised by the Medical Council of Thailand. The Medical

Council of Thailand has accorded its approval now to the

faculty of Medicine, VMRF as a medical institution for

awarding MBBS degree for five years for the period March 10,

2011 till March 9, 2016. More over, nothing has been shown

either to the High Court or to us that the course in

Thailand is in any way recognised or is approved by the

Medical Council of India.

5

7. Regulation 2(f) of 2002 Regulations defines "Primary

Medical qualification" which means a medical qualification

awarded by any medical institution outside India which is a

recognised qualification for enrollment as medical

practitioner in the country in which the institution

awarding the said qualification is situated and which is

equivalent to MBBS in India. Eligibility criteria for

screening test is provided in Regulation 4 of 2002

Regulations. Regulation 4(1), as was existing during the

relevant time, reads as under:

"(1) No person shall be allowed to appear in the screening test unless:

he/she is a citizen of India and possesses any primary medical qualification, either whose name and the institution awarding it are included in the World Directory of Medial Schools, published by the World Health Organization; or which is confirmed by the Indian Embassy concerned to be a recognised qualification for enrollment as medical practitioner in the country in which the institution awarding the said qualification is situated."

8. The students, who are before us, claim to have

completed medical course and have been issued provisional

certificate by VMRF on June 20, 2009. One of such

certificates reads as under:

6

VINAYAKA MISSIONS UNIVERSITY

UNDER SECTION 3 OF THE UGC ACT, 1956

SALEM, TAMILNADU, INDIA

Formerly known as Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation Deemed University)

OFF-SHORE CAMPUS - BANGKOK- THAILAND

PROVISIONAL CERTIFICATE

REG. NO. VR MBU 04 1003 DATE: 20-06-2009

This is to certify that J. MOHAMED IBRAHIM has passed the Final Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Degree Examination held in May, 2009. He/She will be qualified to receive the M.B.B.S. Degree after satisfactorily completing the prescribed period of Compulsory Rotatory Resident Internship for one year.

sd/-

CONTROLLER OF EXAMINATIONS

9. Based on the above certificate, these students

applied for screening test through VMRF to the National

Board of Examination (NBE). NBE did not respond to such

applications. VMRF then moved to the Madras High Court

during vacation. The Vacation Judge issued certain

directions. Pursuant thereto, 21 students appeared in the

screening test. Of these 21 students, 4 cleared the

screening test. The Writ Petition ultimately came to be

allowed. NBE challenged the judgment and order of the Single

7

Judge in intra court appeal before the Division Bench. The

Division Bench allowed the appeal and set-aside the judgment

and order of the Single Judge.

10. The Division Bench, in the impugned order, has noted

that VMRF was not approved by the Medical Council of

Thailand and inspite of opportunity, nothing was produced to

show that the degree awarded by the VMRF was recognised.

11. A bare look at the eligibility criteria provided in

Regulation 4(1) of 2002 Regulations leaves no manner of

doubt that a candidate who intends to appear in the

screening test must, inter-alia, possess primary medical

qualification. Such qualification must be a recognised

qualification for enrollment as a medical practitioner in

the country in which the institution awarding such

qualification is situated.

12. Admittedly, the provisional degree awarded by the

VMRF to these students is not recognised by the Medical

Council of Thailand. These students, who claim to have

completed their course in the off-shore campus of VMRF, are

not entitled to register the degree awarded to them by VMRF

with the Medical Council of Thailand. The provisional

degree awarded by VMRF to these students, therefore, does

not amount to primary medical qualification. The view

taken by the Division Bench that the students do not possess

eligibility of primary medical qualification, thus, cannot

8

be said to suffer from any illegality.

13. Mr. K. Ramamoorthy, learned senior counsel for the

students heavily relied upon the decision of this Court in

Soham Mayankumar Vyas and others vs. Union of India and

others1 . However, in view of peculiar factual position of

this case as noticed above, Soham Mayankumar Vyas has no

application at all.

14. Civil Appeals are, accordingly, dismissed with no

order as to costs.

.....................J. (R.M. LODHA)

.....................J. (H.L. GOKHALE)

NEW DELHI FEBRUARY 22, 2012.

1 (2010) 13 SCC 137