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Writ Petitions Nos. X83 and 396 of 1956, decided on 12th Feburary 1957.

Provisional admission becomes final on satisfaction of requirement of certificates etc.-Student duly admitted can be deprived of that status only in accordance with the University Act-Writ-Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 170 --University of Karachi Act (LIX of 1950).

Held, that once a student has been admitted duly, he acquires a status of an admitted student. He can only be deprived of that status as provided by the University Act.

Where the Principal of a College had cancelled the admissions of the two petitioners "provisionally" admitted, on the ground of a new allocation of seats in the College received from the Government:

Held, that the words "provisionally admitted" have reference to the Ordinances of the University regarding the admission of students to college classes and since petitioners were deprived of their admissions not in accordance with the Ordinances but on an unofficial reference from Government, cancellation of admission was illegal.

A provisional admission becomes final upon the satisfac tion of the requirements of certificates and production of documents.

Hassanally and Usmanbai for Petitioners.

A. A. Fazeel for Respondents.

-On the 22nd August 1956 a notice was put up on the notice board of the Dow Medical College to the following effect:

The following candidates are provisionally admitted to the 1st year M. B., B. S. class of this college :-

(The names of Mr. Ismail and Mr. Jan Muhammad appeared at Serial Nos. 100 and 101 opposite the bracketted places Junagedh, Manavadar and other Kathiawar States).

The names of the candidates from former Bahawalpur State will be announced later on. The above candidates should make a special note of the following :-

(i) They are required to deposit the necessary college dues with the College Accountant within a week of the issue of this Notice, failing which their claim for admission will be considered as null and void ; and

(ii) They are required to produce an Eligibility Certificate from the University of Karachi within reasonable time."

This was signed by the Principal of the Dow Medical College.

On the same date a notice was put up by the Principal "Candidates who have better claims or any other complaint in relation to the admission than (sic.) the candidates given provisional admission to the 1^st year M. B., B. S. class of the College should inveriably see the undersigned on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, the 23rd, 24th or 25th August 1956 at . . . . . after which no complaint will be entertained."

Ismail is the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 383 of 1956 and Jan Muhammad is the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 396 of 1956. They are represented by Mr. Hassanally and Mr. Usmanbai, and their cases are identical. They were nominated to represent Mangrol and Bantwa, but the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions on the 25th August 1956 wrote an unofficial reference to the Ministry of Health, requesting that the reservations on behalf of Mangrol and Bantwa should be dropped and instead two reservations for junagadh and one for Manavadar should be retained. As a consequence of this the two petitioners were informed that their admission had been cancelled.

The claim of the petitioners is based upon the notice regarding their provisional admission. It is claimed that the words "provisionally admitted" have reference to the Ordi nances regarding the admission of students to College classes. Ordinance 4 in Chapter II of the Ordinances states :-

"The Principals of Colleges in the case of admissions to the College classes may admit students provisionally from the date of the opening of the session to the expiry of the third week of the session but all such admissions shall be liable to cancellation if the students so admitted are not in possession of necessary certificates or documents."

Ordinance 5 reads as follows :-

"No person who has passed an Examination from a University or Board other than the University of Karachi shall be admitted to any class unless he obtains a Certificate of Eligibility' from the Registrar of the University."

and then we get Ordinance No. 11 :-

"The Vice-Chancellor may refuse admission to a student in the University classes and the affiliated colleges without giving reasons."

No Ordinance makes any provision for making an admission final. It is left to be inferred, therefore, that a provisional admission becomes final upon the satisfaction of the requirements of certificates and production of documents and the silence of the Vice-Chancellor in refusing admission. This we think is correct, though it is also competent, we think, as was done in this case by the notice recited above, to state that if a candidate has any grievance against the admission of a candidate on the ground that the admitted candidate had worse claims to admission then that claim will also be entertained.

On both these points, it appears to us that the petitioners are entitled to succeed. They have stated, and it is not denied, that they have paid up their dues and have secured certificates of eligibility. Therefore, so far as the Ordinances are con cerned, their admission had become final.

As regards the notice inviting better claims, the time limit was laid down as 25th August and the reference from the Ministry of Health was sent to the Principal only on the 27th of August, and by this time the list has become final.

It is conceded by Mr. Fazeel on behalf of the respondent, the Principal, that the list published on the 22nd August had received the approval of Government. There is, therefore, no question in this case regarding the competency of the Principal in publishing this list.

Once a student has been admitted duly, as in this case, he acquires a status of an admitted student. He can only be deprived of that status as provided by the University Act and it is not contended that the petitioners were deprived under any provision of the Act.

Interim injunctions were issued directing the Principal to allow the petitioners to continue their courses.

We order that the respondent do allow the petitioners to continue their studies in the College with the rights and privileges of First Year M. B. B. S., Class Students. The petitioners do not claim costs.

A. H. Petitions accepted.

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