Principle That Act Of Court Should Not Prejudice Anyone Was Disregarded: Supreme Court Permits BAMS Student To Complete His Course

The Appeal before the Apex Court was filed by the appellant student who had almost completed his education under the protection of interim orders granted by the Madhya Pradesh High Court but was ultimately shown the door, when his Writ Petition was dismissed and his review plea too met with the same fate.

The Division Bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Augustine George Masih said, “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.”

Advocate L.C. Patne represented the Appellant while AOR Mrinal Gopal Elker represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The appellant completed his High School Education (10+2) in the year 2008 from the Madhya Pradesh Sanskrit Board, Bhopal. He 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. He completed the first-year course. Thereafter the Ayurvedic Medical College came to be de-recognized. The students of the said College were transferred to Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical College at Ujjain. 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.

Challenging the same, he filed the subject Writ Petition before the High Court. However, the Principal of Shaskiya Swasashi College, issued an Allotment Letter to the appellant.

The appellant re-appeared for the 12th class examination, took English as a subject and passed it by securing 70 marks. He also passed the Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling. The Division Bench of the High Court non-suited the appellant on the ground that he was initially ineligible to be admitted to B.A.M.S. Degree Course. Aggrieved thereby, the appellant approached the Apex Court.

Reasoning

The Bench, at the outset, said, “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.”

As per the Bench, the appellant’s 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 subject in the qualifying examination of 10+2. However, the appellant was allowed to pass English as a subject in Class 12, when he was provisionally admitted by the said College.

It was further noticed by the Bench that 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.

The Court further noted that the appellant had put in nearly 6 years in pursuing B.A.M.S. Degree Course. “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 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”, the Bench held.

Thus, allowing the appeal, the Bench set aside the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Permitting the appellant to complete his course and internship in Shaskiya Swasashi Dhanwantari Ayurvedic Medical College, Ujjain, the Bench ordered that the authorities concerned shall thereafter issue him his B.A.M.S. Degree in accordance with due procedure.

Cause Title: Zaid Sheikh v. The State of Madhya Pradesh and others (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 353)

Appearance:

Appellant: Advocates L.C. Patne, Raghav Pandey, Sharmistha Choudhary, AOR Rekha Pandey

Respondent: AOR Mrinal Gopal Elker, Advocates Mukesh Kumar Verma, Chinmoy Chaitanya, Aditya Chaudhary

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