LexSTATE OF HARYANA AND ANOTHER ETC. ETC. versus DR. NARENDER SONI AND OTHERS ETC. ETC.
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[2017] 4 S.C.R. 251 STATE OF HARYANA AND ANOTHER ETC. ETC. A v. DR. NARENDER SONI AND OTHERS ETC. ETC. (Civil Appeal Nos. 8179-8181 of 2017) MAY25,2017 B [L. NAGESWARA RAO AND NAVIN SINHA, JJ.] Administrative law - Policy decision - Issuance of Notification dated 05.05.2017 by State of Haryana notifying remote/difficult areas in the State for grant of weightage in marks obtained in the C National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) for admission to various post graduate Medical/Dental courses under Regn. 9(1V) - Set aside by the High Court with directions for fresh counseling - Interference with - Held: Not called for - Notification dated 05.05.2017 is based on a completely flawed process of identification, applying irrelevant criteria and ignoring relevant considerations - D Notification based on no data, formulated in a day. implemented before publication in the Gazette, after publication of the NEET, reflects inadequate preparation by the State -11 cannot be approved - Proviso to Regn. 9(1V) is not a compulsion but an enabling provision vesting discretion in the State, which has to be exercised fairly, reasonably and for the purpose the power has been conferred - In view thereof Stale of Haryana to come out with a fresh notification identifying remote and/or difjlcult areas to give weightage in PG courses - Post graduate .Medical Education Regulations, 2000 - Regn. 9(1V) - Education/Educational Institutions. E Dismissing the appeals, the Court F HELD: 1.1 To identify an area as remote and/or difficult on the basis of unwillingness of Doctors to join at those places, which can be for myriad reasons, cannot be held to be a valid and relevant criteria. Similarly vacancies at any particular place can again be for various reasons and cannot be directly and conclusively related G to unwillingness of Doctors to join at such places. The State is first required to identify remote and/or difficult areas, and then analyse the lack of availability of Doctors at these locations. To first identify locations where Doctors are reluctant to be posted H 251 252 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [20 J 7] 4 S.C.R. A and then classify them as remote or difficult areas is reversing the entire decision making process, akin to placing the cart before the horse. The High Court noticed that several of them were located where municipal committee/council exists, 10 places are such which are sub-divisions in the Districts concerned and many B c of the Community Health Centres and Primary Health Centres were located on National Highways or State Highways including in cities with large population which could not be said to be remote and/or difficult areas, observing that Haryana was a developed State with good road communications. The impugned notification was implemented and acted upon in the 1" counselling even before its publication in the Gazette, only after which it could have come into force. [Para 7][256-F-H; 257-A-C) 1.2 The flawed implementation, by a hasty identification of remote and/or difficult areas is further evident from the fact that out of 150 Community Health Centres, 68 of them have been D identified as remote and/or difficult, which amounts to 60 per cent of the total. Likewise, 54 per cent of the Primary Health Centres have been identified as remote and/or difficult areas. It strongly conflicts with the status of Haryana as a developed State and severely reduces the chances of other candidates who may not E F be entitled to such weightage. The identification, moreover, has been done only for the purposes of admission in postgraduate courses, contrary to the guidelines in D.S. Cltauha11 ~v case that it must be based on general criteria applicable to other Government schemes also. [Paras 8, 9][257-C-E] 1.3 The word remote and/or difficult areas has not been defined anywhere. In common parlance, identification of the same would require considering a host of factors, such as social and economic conditions, geographical location, accessibility and other similar relevant considerations which may be a hindrance in providing adequate medical care requiring incentivization. A cue G may be had from the "Concept and Process Document for Incentivisation of Skilled Professionals to work in inaccessible most difficult and difficult rural areas (draft note)" published by the National Health Systems Resource Centre, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. [Para 10)(257-
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