Zaid Sheikh vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh Through Secretary Department Of Ayurved Yoga And Naturopathy Unani Siddha And Homeopathy (Ayush)

2025 INSC 353 Non-reportable

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NOs. --------- & -------- OF 2025 (@ S.L.P.(C) Nos. 4361-4362 of 2019)

Zaid Sheikh … Appellant

Versus

The State of Madhya Pradesh and others … Respondents

JUDGMENT

SANJAY KUMAR, J

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellant before us almost completed his education

under the protection of interim orders granted by the Madhya Pradesh

High Court but was ultimately shown the door, when Writ Petition

No.10267 of 2012 filed by him was dismissed on 18.06.2014 by a

Division Bench of the High Court. His petition seeking review of the said

order, viz., Review Petition No. 236 of 2014, met with the same fate on

01.08.2014. Aggrieved thereby, he filed these special leave petitions in Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Deepak Guglani Date: 2025.03.18

November, 2014, with a delay of 45 days, which was condoned only in 16:01:59 IST Reason:

the year 2019.

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3. The appellant completed his High School Education (10+2)

in the year 2008 from the Madhya Pradesh Sanskrit Board, Bhopal. He

appeared in the Pre-Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and Unani Entrance Test,

2008, and secured admission to B.A.M.S. (Bachelor of Ayurvedic

Medicine and Surgery) Degree Course in Smt. Dhairya Prabha Devi

Sojatia Ayurvedic Medical College at Neemthur in Tehsil Bhanpura,

District Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, in September, 2008. He completed

the first-year course and secured 940 marks out of 1600. While so, Smt.

Dhairya Prabha Devi Sojatia Ayurvedic Medical College at Neemthur

came to be de-recognized. The students of the said College were

transferred to Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical

College at Ujjain in July, 2012. However, the appellant was not given this

benefit on the ground that he was actually ineligible to be admitted to

B.A.M.S. Degree Course as he had not taken and passed 'English' as a

subject in his 10+2 examination.

4. Challenging the same, he filed the subject Writ Petition

No.10267 of 2012 before the Madhya Pradesh High Court in October,

2012. Pursuant to the interim orders passed therein on 30.10.2012, he

was permitted to attend classes. Surprisingly, the Principal of Shaskiya

Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical College, Ujjain, had issued

Allotment Letter dated 19.09.2012 to the appellant even before the filing

of his writ petition. He informed the appellant that he had been

2 transferred to and admitted to B.A.M.S. 3rd Prof. in the said College and

directed him to present himself within 3 days along with requisite

documents and the prescribed fee for taking admission. Significantly, the

said Allotment Letter ended with the following paragraph.

‘Certificate of Passing of Class 12th in English Subject in the attached Mark-sheet of Sanskrit Board or Provisionally admitted on the condition of passing English Subject in Class 12.’

It is, therefore, clear that the appellant was required to either

produce his pass certificate in proof of having taken English as a subject

and passing the same or in the event he failed to do so, he was

provisionally admitted subject to the condition that he would pass

English as a subject in Class 12.

5. Admittedly, the appellant re-appeared for the 12 th class

examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Madhya

Pradesh, in March, 2013. Therein, he took English as a subject and

passed it by securing 70 marks. Apart from this examination, he also

appeared in the Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the

National Institute of Open Schooling, an autonomous institution under

the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India,

and the Provisional Certificate issued by the said Institute on 05.06.2014

demonstrates that he passed the said examination with the subjects -

English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Hindi. It is also an admitted fact

3 that the appellant had prosecuted the entire studies of B.A.M.S. Degree

Course and had also completed part of his mandatory internship at the

time his writ petition was dismissed.

6. The Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court,

Bench at Indore, non-suited the appellant on the ground that he was

initially ineligible to be admitted to B.A.M.S. Degree Course as he had

not taken and passed ‘English’ as a subject in the qualifying examination

of 10+2. The Division Bench was apprised of the fact that the appellant

had again taken the 12th class examination with English as a subject and

had passed the same during the pendency of the Writ Petition but it was

not persuaded to hold in his favour. The appellant’s entreaty to review

the dismissal of his writ petition was peremptorily rejected by the Bench

on the ground that there was no error apparent on the face of the record.

7. Though there can be no dispute with the proposition that

fulfilling the basic eligibility for admission to a course is a sine qua non,

which ought not to be overlooked or ignored, the peculiar facts of the

case on hand ought to have weighed with the High Court while

considering the plight of the appellant. His initial admission in the first

College was in clear violation of the Madhya Pradesh

Ayurveda/Unani/Homeopathy Undergraduate Entrance Examination

Rules - 2008, which prescribed the eligibility condition that candidates of

all categories and classes were required to have passed English as a

4 subject in the qualifying examination of 10+2. However, the said College

came to be de-recognized and all the students of that College were

transferred to the Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical

College, Ujjain, and the appellant was allowed to pass English as a

subject in Class 12, when he was provisionally admitted by the said

College. That fact ought to have been given more weightage by the High

Court. More so, as the appellant had acted upon the said Allotment

Letter and reappeared for the Class 12 examination, twice over, with

English as a subject and had passed it.

8. Though, the interim order granted by the High Court on

30.10.2012 recorded that the appellant would not be entitled to claim

equities, the fact that he was permitted to complete the entire course and

had also finished part of his mandatory internship ought not to have

been brushed aside lightly. Be it noted that the appellant had put in

nearly 6 years by then in pursuing B.A.M.S. Degree Course and the end

result of the High Court’s order was to decimate his entire labour of all

those years. An act of the Court should, ordinarily, not prejudice anyone

(Actus curiae neminem gravabit). This is a fundamental principle of

justice, but it was disregarded by the High Court while considering the

case of the appellant. In any event, the appellant's so-called ineligibility,

which was not essential in the context of the course that he had taken,

was cured by him thereafter owing to the liberty given by the College

5 itself while provisionally admitting him to the course in September, 2012.

Given these peculiar facts, we are of the opinion that this is a fit case for

interference so that the appellant is not left out in the cold after

completing almost the entire course.

9. The appeals are accordingly allowed, setting aside the order

dated 18.06.2014 passed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court in W.P.

No. 10267 of 2012 and the order dated 01.08.2014 passed by it in

Review Petition No. 236 of 2014. The appellant shall be permitted to

complete his course and internship in Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari

Ayurvedic Medical College, Ujjain, and the authorities concerned shall

thereafter issue him his B.A.M.S. Degree in accordance with due

procedure.

No order as to costs.

............................., J (SANJAY KUMAR)

………………............................., J (AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH)

March 18, 2025 New Delhi.

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