Chandigarh, October 14
In yet another setback to Ludhiana-based Christian Medical College, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed its appeal against the orders quashing the part of the prospectus requiring a Christian candidate to obtain a mandatory sponsorship letter as a pre-condition to admission.
Dismissing the appeal, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Gurdev Singh ruled: “We express our agreement with the view that there cannot be micro classification within the same class.
“Once a person is proved to be a Christian by passing the Bible test and producing a baptism certificate, the proof that he belongs to the Christian community stands furnished.
“To say that he must produce a sponsorship letter from sponsoring body/church duly signed by an authorised signatory would be wholly unreasonable, unfair and capricious.”
The case has its genesis in a petition filed before a Single Judge by Joel D Masih against Baba Farid University of Health Science and other respondents.
In his petition, Joel, a candidate for admission to the MBBS course offered by the CMC in the category of “Christian Minority Punjab candidates ” had sought the quashing of clause 11(a) of the prospectus.
He had said the clause required a “Christian candidate to obtain the mandatory sponsorship letter from sponsoring bodies/churches, referred to in the prospectus ”.
Taking up the matter, Justice Rajive Bhalla had asserted: “By requiring a candidate to obtain a sponsorship letter from named churches/bodies as a pre-condition to admission, the respondents have conferred the power to render ineligible a candidate otherwise eligible and duly qualified?.
“The condition requiring a candidate to obtain a sponsorship letter, in my considered opinion, imposes an eligibility condition, that does not stand the test of fairness, is arbitrary, exploitative and, therefore, cannot form part of the eligibility criteria.”
In yet another setback to Ludhiana-based Christian Medical College, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed its appeal against the orders quashing the part of the prospectus requiring a Christian candidate to obtain a mandatory sponsorship letter as a pre-condition to admission.
Dismissing the appeal, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Gurdev Singh ruled: “We express our agreement with the view that there cannot be micro classification within the same class.
“Once a person is proved to be a Christian by passing the Bible test and producing a baptism certificate, the proof that he belongs to the Christian community stands furnished.
“To say that he must produce a sponsorship letter from sponsoring body/church duly signed by an authorised signatory would be wholly unreasonable, unfair and capricious.”
The case has its genesis in a petition filed before a Single Judge by Joel D Masih against Baba Farid University of Health Science and other respondents.
In his petition, Joel, a candidate for admission to the MBBS course offered by the CMC in the category of “Christian Minority Punjab candidates ” had sought the quashing of clause 11(a) of the prospectus.
He had said the clause required a “Christian candidate to obtain the mandatory sponsorship letter from sponsoring bodies/churches, referred to in the prospectus ”.
Taking up the matter, Justice Rajive Bhalla had asserted: “By requiring a candidate to obtain a sponsorship letter from named churches/bodies as a pre-condition to admission, the respondents have conferred the power to render ineligible a candidate otherwise eligible and duly qualified?.
“The condition requiring a candidate to obtain a sponsorship letter, in my considered opinion, imposes an eligibility condition, that does not stand the test of fairness, is arbitrary, exploitative and, therefore, cannot form part of the eligibility criteria.”
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