Merit is to been the bases of selection and the same was held in the much talked about case Dr. Vivek Kumar Garg v. State of H.P. decided on 18th June, 2015 of this year. In the present case, the petitioners participated in the selection process for admission to MD/MS/MDS courses for 2015-18 academic session, according to the prospectus issued by the Department of Medical Education and Research. As per, para 3.1., 66.6% of the State quota seats are to be filled up by in-service candidates. The in-service group comprises of two further sub-groups. By notice of the Himachal Pradesh Government, the first two seats would go to Regular and 3rd to Contractual and thereafter 4th to Regular (Medical Officers). This distribution of seats via sub-groups and the notice regarding 4 point roster was challenged as unconstitutional, and the same was held to be arbitrary and unreasonable by the division bench of Rajiv Sharma and Sureshwar Thakur, JJ.
The court held that classification between in-service and non-service candidates was based on an intelligible differentia but further division of in-service candidates on basis of source of recruitment was not with the goal to grant admission to meritorious candidates, which is the primary goal of any classification in selection process for admission to postgraduate courses. The roster points method promoted mediocracy and not merit. The Court quashed the admissions through the first, second and third counselling and directed re-doing.
