PUNJAB ENGINEERING COLLEGE ETC. ETC. versus SANJAY GULATI AND ORS.

Citation: [1983] 2 S.C.R. 801 · Decided: 20-04-1983 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: Y.V. CHANDRACHUD · Disposal: Disposed off

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · cites 1 · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

PUNJAB ENGINEERING COLLEGE ETC. ETC. 
v, 
SANJAY GULATI AND ORS. 
April 20, 1983 
[Y.V. CHANDRACHUD C.J., R.S. PATHAK AND 
SAJIYASACHI MUKHARJ!, JJ.] 
801 
lu$1ice to students-Adn1issions n1ade contrary to Rules and Regulations-
Interferance by the cou'rts-Adjiistn1ent of equities between students wrongly 
admitted vis-a-vis students unjustly excluded-Solution-Creation of super-
numerary seats-Beneficiaries should include non-writ Petitioners who are higher-
up in the merit list. 
Admissions ·to· the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh for the 
academic year 1982-83 granted to eight candidates ·by what fs described as the 
A 
B 
c 
spot test method, to seven wards of the employees of the Punjab Engineering 
D 
College nnd another were Struck down by the Punjab High Court as in 
violation of the rules and regulations goyerning admissions to the institution. 
_However, the students wrongly adn1itted were allowed to-continue their studies 
on humanitarian grounds. Hence the appeals after obtaining special leave of 
the Court. 
Disposing of the appeals, the Court 
E. 
HELD : 
f-: t 'Since all the sixteen students wrongly admitted have 
already completed one or twO sen1esters it 1 will be. unjust to cancel their 
admission at this stage and to remove their names from the rolls of the College, 
and tQ.erefore, they must be· allowed to continue their Studies as if their • 
admission to the College suffered from no defect Or illegality. [803 F-GJ 
/ 
I : 2 Cases like these in which adrllissions granted to students in 
educational institutions are quashed . raise a sensitive human issue. lt is 
unquestionably true that· thC authorities who are charged with the duty of 
admitting students to educational institutions must act· fairly and objectively·. 
, If admissions to these institutions are 1nade on ~~xtraneous considerations and 
the authorities \iolate the norms set down by the rules and regulations., a sense 
of resentment and frustration is bound to ·be generated in the minds of those 
unfortunate young students who are wrongly or purposefully left out. On the 
other hand, students who are wrongly admitted do not suffer the consequences 
of the manipulations, if any, made on their behalf by interested persons. 
[804 B-D-F] 
I .; 3 Law's delays work their wonders in such diverse fashions with the 
result th~t the courts :find it difficult to adjust equities between students who are 
Wrongly admitted and th< se who are unjustly excluded. Since by the time the 
High Courts take up the matter and fiuallf d~cl<;le the cas~s~ 1$tuc!en~s whc;> @.nf 
'
F 
G 
H 
A 
., 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
802 
0SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[1983i 2 s.c.R. 
wrongly admitted finish one or two semesters of the course and the courts are 
regretfully pcrforced to allow them to continue their studies. [804 F-GJ 
The court observed . that ''this situation has emboldened the erridg 
authorities or educational institutions of var'ious States to indulge in Violating 
the norms of admission with impunity. They seem to feel that the courts will 
leave the iidmissions in tact, even if the admissions are granted contrary to the 
rules and regulations, which is a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. · Laws are 
meant to be obeyed, not flouted. Some day not distant, if admissions are 
quashed for the reason that they were made Wrongly, it will have to be directed 
that the names of students who are wrongly admitted should be removed from 
the ro_lls of the institution." [804 H, SOS A-BJ 
2 : 1 The contention that the seats cannot correspondingly be increased 
since the State Government cannot 1neet the additional expenditure which will 
be ·caused by increasing the number of seats or that the institution will not be 
able to cope up with the additional influx of students cannot be accepted. 
[805 C-DJ 
2 : 2 Those who infringe the rule must pay ·for their lapse and the wrong 
done to the deserving students who ought. to have beeµ admitted has to be 
rectified. The best solution under the circumstances is to ensure that the 
strength of seats is increased in proportion to -the wrong adnlissions made. 
. 
' 
[805 E-F] 
The court directed that 8 seats should be for the students from the 
Chandigarh list and the other 8 ,i;eats from the General List of students which 
. were prepared for the academic year 1982-83. 
[805 G-H] 
3. The reservation of the sixteen seats are not open exclusively to the 
writ petitioners. The circumstance that they filed wdt petitions- in t

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.