Madhav Sakharam Shilotri and ors. Vs. State of Maharashtra and ors. - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
- section 10: [swatanter kumar, c.j., a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre, jj] admission to professional colleges - technical courses - publication of brochure on basis of which candidates seek admission to various institution keeping in mind their merit and preference of colleges held, for ensuring adherence to proper appreciation of an academic course, it is essential that the method of admission is just, fair and transparent. the first step in this direction would be publication of a brochure on the basis of which the applicants are supposed to aspire for admission to various institution keeping in mind their merit and preference of college. brochure, firstly has to be in conformity with law and the statutory scheme notified by the competent authority. it is a complete and composite document as it deals with the scheme for conducting their entrance examinations, declaration of results, general instructions and method of admission, etc. this brochure is binding on the applicants as well as the authorities. this brochure or admission notification issued by the state or other competent authority cannot be altered at a subsequent stage particularly once the process of admission has begun. there is hardly any exception to this accepted rule of law. section 10: [swatanter kumar, c.j., a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre,jj] admission to professional colleges - technical courses - approval to additional seats or to start new course - cut off dates held, the settled principle of law is that merit of the applicant is the primary criteria which would determine his rank as well as the college where he would be entitled to admission. this rule should not be frustrated as it will tantamount to entirely upsetting the object of admissions based on merit oriented method and would cast cloud on the fairness and transparency of the method of admission. one of the ways in which merit can be defeated is allowing increase in the intake strength or commencement if new colleges beyond cut-off date and admissions beyond the last date specified in the notification/calendar issued by the concerned authorities. this can be illustrated by giving an example. college a which is running a professional course like engineering or mba etc. has an intake capacity of 60 seats which has duly been notified in the information brochure. however, after the cut-off date, approval is granted by the aicte and thereafter, the process is taken up by the state and the intake capacity of the college is increased by 30 more seats. these seats would obviously, not be notified in the information brochure and the candidate who are meritorious and for whom college a; be the college of reference could not get seats or give preference as the seats were limited. none had the proper knowledge about the increase in intake of seats though at a much subsequent stage and may be even after the last date of admission is over either by themselves or under the order of the court even it is put on the internet or given in the newspaper, the candidates of higher rank or meritorious candidates would not be able to avail of that benefit because they have already submitted the testimonial, have paid their fees and the courses have commenced. in that situation, for variety of reasons, they may not be able to take admission in the institution of their higher preference while the candidates of much lower merit will be admitted to that course. besides defeating the merit, it has been commonly noticed that the late admissions made by the colleges directly effect notified candidates who have questioned it more than often as their admission process is not so just, fair and transparent which has given rise to the litigation. it is also a kind of back door entry method. another serious consequence that result from such admissions is shortening of the academic courses in an undesirable manner. it is expected of other candidate selected to a professional course that he or she would complete the course in its entirety and not by missing more than a month or so in joining the said course. this results in lowering the excellence of education as well as harms the academic standard of professional education. admission to professional colleges: [swatanter kumar, c.j., a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre, jj] technical courses - held, in process of admission to professional colleges relating to technical courses, primarily three institutional bodies are involved. (i) all india technical council for technical education, (ii) state of maharashtra through director of technical education and (iii) university to which such institution is affiliated the role of all these institutions in distinct and different but for a common object. primary of the rule of all india council for technical education (aicte) is now well settled but that certainly does not mean that role of the state government and for that matter the university is without any purpose or of no importance. the council is the authority constituted under the central act with the responsibility of maintaining education standards and judging upon the infra-structure and facilities available for imparting such professional education. its opinion is of utmost importance and shall take precedence over views of the state as well as that of the university. the concerned department of the state and the affiliating university has a role to pay but it is limited in its application. they cannot lay down any guidelines or policies which would be in conflict with the central statute or the students laid down a by the central body. state can frame its policy for admission to such professional courses but such policy again has to be in conformity with the directives issued by the central body. while the state grants its approval and university its affiliation for increased intake of seats or commencement for a new course/college, its directions should not offend and be repugnant to what has been laid down in the condition of approval granted by the central authority or council. what is most important is that all these authorities have to work ad idem as they all have a common object to achieve i.e. of proper imparting of education an ensuring maintenance of proper standards of education, examination and ensuring proper infrastructure for betterment of educational system. only if all these authorities work in a co-ordinated manner and with co-operation they would be able to achieve the very object for which all these entities exist admission to professional courses: [swatanter kumar, c.j.,a.p. deshpande & smt. nishita mhatre, jj] admission schedule - interference by courts held, all the expert bodies viz. aicte as well as directorate of education in consultation with the departments of the state regulating the process of admission and maintenance of standards of education had notified a legal binding document specifying dates and schedule for various matters in relation to admission of students and commencement of courses. there has to be so compelling circumstances and grounds before the court to interfere with the prescribed schedule. it is neither so arbitrary nor so perverse, keeping in view the essential features relating to imparting education to professional courses that it should invite judicial chastisement to the extent of laying down entirely new schedule. merely because there has been some delay on the part of either of these authorities to timely grant of either of these authorities to timely grant or decline approval and permission to commence a course per se would not be sufficient ground for disturbing the notified schedule and timely commencement of courses. - he further deposed that the colour of the jeep was blue and that colour was seen attached to the motor cycle and he got tin cut from the jeep as well as the motor cycle for sending it to the chemical analyser and chemical analyser's report was also filed. , manoj and prasanna were about 19 years of age, had excellent academic career and were students of engineering and technology college. we are not happy at all with the view taken by the tribunal when the tribunal has rejected the claim in toto.n.d. vyas, j.1. these are two appeals preferred by the original claimants in respect of their respective claims before the motor accidents claims tribunal, jalgaon. the tribunal rejected both the claims. hence the present appeals.2. the facts relating to both the appeals are common inasmuch as that one manoj and one prasanna, two youths of 19 years of age, died as a result of accident which took place at 9.30 p.m. on 8.12.1984 in the city of jalgaon. the accident took place on the road going towards m.j. college and police headquarters. manoj was driving motor cycle and his friend prasanna was on the pillion seat. the collision took place between the motor cycle and police jeep driven by the original opponent no. 3. both these boys had brilliant academic career and after passing their xiith standard examination, they were students in the first year of the engineering and technology college at jalgaon. both of them were from bombay and they were staying in the hostel. on 8.12.1984, they were proceeding to their hostel at which time opponent no. 3, who was driving police jeep bearing registration no. mze 2648 attached to raver police station, was taking it back to the headquarters. they collided with each other, as a result whereof the motor cycle was thrown off on the left side of the road and both the riders, viz., manoj and prasanna fell down and received serious injuries. prasanna died on the spot, however, manoj died on the next day. the claims were preferred by the appellants-claimants by two separate claims being claim nos. 38 of 1985 and 39 of 1985 whereby the appellants claimed rs. 2,00,000/- each in their claims. the defence which was taken was of curious nature. the jeep driver, viz., the opponent no. 3 denied everything, even the fact of jeep colliding with the motor cycle. the defence taken by opponent nos. 1 and 2 was also to the effect that the driver, viz., opponent no. 3 was not authorised to take out the jeep at that hour and that he had gone on his personal work and, therefore, opponent nos. 1 and 2, respondent nos. 1 and 2 herein, were not responsible. on the basis of the pleadings, issues were raised. the main two issues which required consideration by the tribunal were, whether it was proved that the deceased boys had died because of the rash and negligent driving of the police jeep mze 2648 by opponent no. 3 and secondly, if so, then what would be the compensation. both the original claimants no. 1, appellant no. 1, viz., fathers of the deceased boys were examined and they deposed as to the academic careers of the two boys and as to the possibility of their earnings after graduation, at least rs. 2,000/- to rs. 2,500/- per month. further, on behalf of the appellants, evidence of one shantaram ramdas wani was led. he deposed that he was in his house which was situated at the corner of two roads where one was going to the mj. college and other going to the polytechnic meet; that at about 9.30 p.m. he was having his dinner, he heard big noise outside about an accident and that when he came out, he saw that a collision had taken place between the motor cycle and jeep; that the jeep was belonging to the police department and that the jeep immediately left and the two boys were lying on the road injured. the tribunal, however, did not believe his evidence and came to the conclusion that he was a got up witness and he had nothing to depose. at the same time, curiously the tribunal has observed that he must have come late out of his house and then he must have gathered so many things from the people. in any view of the matter, this witness cannot be termed eye-witness inasmuch as he had not seen how the accident took place. the other witness who was examined was one subhanrao ganpatrao kale, who was attached to the motor section of the police headquarters at jalgaon. he deposed that at about 10 p.m. opponent no. 3, ramakant medhe brought police jeep to the motor-section and that he came at a high speed; that he was standing in front of the garage and when the jeep was parked under the lamp post, he noticed that right side mudguard of the jeep and the disc of the right front wheel had damaged and although he asked medhe as to how did it happen, medhe remained quiet. interestingly he has deposed that in his presence medhe had mentioned that the jeep had collided with a motor cycle. one more witness was examined on behalf of the appellants and he was sitaram fakira ahire. he was a police head constable and according to him he was present at the police station and that at about 10.10 p.m. p.s.o. patil informed him that there was a phone message that in front of the house of wani, there was an accident and two boys were lying injured and he had to go there. he has further deposed that he immediately went to the site of the accident and he found two boys lying on the south of the road on the kucha road and they were found injured and the motor cycle was lying at a distance of about 2 feet. significantly he deposed that the motor cycle was on the left side of the road. one pandit c. patil who was attached to zilla peth police station, was also examined by the appellants and in his deposition he stated that at about 1.40 a.m. on 9.12.1984 medhe came to the police station and he reported about the incident. one more witness was examined and he was vijaykumar shankarrao kadambande, who went to the accident site and found that one motor cycle was lying on the left hand side of the road while facing the college. he was entrusted with the investigation and during the investigation it was found that medhe was negligent and rash in driving the police jeep and thus a charge-sheet was filed. he further deposed that the colour of the jeep was blue and that colour was seen attached to the motor cycle and he got tin cut from the jeep as well as the motor cycle for sending it to the chemical analyser and chemical analyser's report was also filed. the evidence of one vijay hari mahajan was also led, however, by the opponents, and he deposed that medhe was a constable driver attached to police vehicle in question and that the vehicle was taken from the police station without his permission. the evidence thus led shows no doubt that a police vehicle, viz., jeep bearing registration no. mze 2648 was involved in the accident and that it had collided with the motor cycle. the denial by the opponent no. 3, i.e., driver medhe in the written statement is of no avail to the opponents inasmuch as that the evidence above discussed completely destroyed the plea taken by him although his initial statement was to the effect that the jeep was in fact involved in the accident. moreover, opponent no. 3 was not examined as a witness before the tribunal. in our judgment, he was the only eyewitness who could have deposed as to whether there was any rashness or negligence on his part or whether the motor cycle driven by manoj was driven in such a rash and negligent manner that the accident had taken place. the tribunal was in error in not drawing an adverse inference when medhe was not examined. the tribunal should have realised that he was the only eyewitness to the accident and his evidence was vital. medhe has remained away from the witness-box. thus, we come to the conclusion that had he been examined, his evidence would not have helped the opponents, but would have helped the appellants. thus we have no doubt in our mind that it was the opponent no. 3 who was driving the police vehicle in question and was responsible for the accident as he had driven it in a rash and negligent manner.3. this leaves the other question to be decided, that is determination of the compensation. both the boys, viz., manoj and prasanna were about 19 years of age, had excellent academic career and were students of engineering and technology college. in due course of time, they would have earned and according to the evidence of the appellant no. 1 in both the appeals, viz., respective fathers, would have earned at least rs. 2,000/- to rs. 2,500/- per month, considering the fact that both were young and both could have ultimately married and settled down, the monthly contribution out of their respective income to their respective families, in our view, can be safely taken at rs. 300/- per month. taking rs. 300/- per month as expected dependency, annual expected dependency would come to rs. 3,600/- in respect of both the families. applying multiplier of 15, the amount coming to the share of the appellants in both the appeals would thus come to rs. 54,000/- each. we are not happy at all with the view taken by the tribunal when the tribunal has rejected the claim in toto. we have before us sufficient material to come to the conclusion that it was the opponent no. 3 who was responsible for the accident and sufficient material in the form of evidence given by both the appellants to come to the conclusion that the compensation should have been rs. 54,000/- in both the cases. thus, we allow both the appeals and in our judgment, the just and proper compensation would be . 54,000/- in both the appeals. the opponents would be also liable to pay interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of respective claim applications till the date of realisation. the opponents will get credit for the amount paid towards no fault liability.4. appeals thus allowed with proportionate costs in both the appeals, in both the courts.