# A. PERIAKARUPPAN CHE'ITIAR v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU &. ORS

- **Citation:** [1971] 3 S.C.R. 449
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1971-01-15
- **Bench:** J. C. Shah, K. S. Hegde, A. N. Grover
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/a-periakaruppan-che-itiar-v-state-of-tamil-nadu-ors-5155
- **Pages:** 8

## Headnote

Admission to
Medical
Colleges-Allegation of malafides
against
Selection Committee-Proof of -Interview marks-Government specifies
heads of distribution of marks but no
marks allotted to each headPresumption that marks should be distributed equally-Violation of presumption by Selection Committee-Effect on selections made.
The petitioner, who was an unsuccessful applicant for a seat in one
of the medical colleges in the respondent-State challenged the selections
made by a writ petition in this Court. This Court came to the conclusion
that the selections made were invalid, but did not strike t'iem clown, 1nd
instead, dire~ted the State to constitute a separate expert Committee )Or
making selections to the unfilled seats. The Court further directed that
the Committee should interview only the candidates shown in the waiting
list and t'1ose who moved unsuccessfully the High Court a"d this CN\ft.
This Court observed that the 75 marks allocated for interview "should
be divid.d equally among the live different heads with respect to which
the marks should be given at the interview.
In pursuance of the direction the State constituted a Selection Committee.
The Committee- called for
interview several
other candidates
. besides those asked t<(be interviewed by this Court, though the Committee
refrained from interviewing such additional candidates. The Selection Committee also distributed the 75 interview marks among the live heads not
equally but according to its own discretion. Candidates were se!ecteo for all
the unfilled seats but the petitioner was not selected. He challenged the
selection on the grounds that : ( 1) the Seleotion Committee showed open
hostility to him at the interview, (2) the violatioi of the directions of
this Court showed malafides, and (3) those illegalities vitiated the selection made.
HELD : ( 1) The Selection Committee denied that they had exhibited
any hostility towards the petitioner. The charge of ma afides has to be
established by the ·petitioner by satisfactory evidence, and the fact that the
petitioner could not get anv outside evidence to establish what happened
at the interview cannot shift the burden that is on him, [451 F-H]
(2) The Selectiot Committee explained that they called additional
candidates for interview because they did . no~ understand the SCC!pe
<?f
the judgment of this Court, and that they ~1st"!but~d the 75 ma:ks tn t~eir
dicretion because there was no spec;fic direction rn the operative portion
of the jud~ment of thi~ Court t? distribute them ,equally. Though t!ie
explanation was not sattsfactory, it could not be said that the Committee
had acted mala fide. [452 B.C; 453 E-F]
( 3) The interview rules were made by Government a~d Goverr•ment
alone could have distributed the marks amongst the va•1ous heads.
Tn
the absence of such a distribution it should be .teemed that each one of
the hea&. carried e~ual marks.
Therefore, the
p~o:~ure ado~ted by
the Committee was illegal and contrary to the directions of this Court
and was likelv to have affected the result of the interview. [453 F-0]
15-L807Sup.Clf71
450
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1971] 3 S.C.R.
Moreover, the CQnu11ittee, even on the b~is adopted by it, had· proceeded on wholly wrong premises while granting marks to the petitioner
under the liead 'National Cadet Corps activities'. [455 F-G]
Therefore, the selections made could not be sustained.
ORIGINAL JuR1so1cnoN : Writ Petition No. 623 of 1970.
Petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India for enforcement of fundamental. rights.
K. K. Venugopal and R. Gopalakrishnan, for the pe'.itioner.
S. Govind Swaminathan, Advoca:e-General, Tamil Nadu, S.
Mohan and A. V. Rangam, for respondents Nos. 1 to 5.

## Text

A
B
c
D
E
F
G
H
449
A. PERIAKARUPPAN CHE'ITIAR
v.
STATE OF TAMIL NADU &. ORS.
January 15, 1971
[J. C. SHAH, C.J., K. S. HEGDE AND A. N. GROVER, JJ.]
Admission to
Medical
Colleges-Allegation of malafides
against
Selection Committee-Proof of -Interview marks-Government specifies
heads of distribution of marks but no
marks allotted to each headPresumption that marks should be distributed equally-Violation of presumption by Selection Committee-Effect on selections made.
The petitioner, who was an unsuccessful applicant for a seat in one
of the medical colleges in the respondent-State challenged the selections
made by a writ petition in this Court. This Court came to the conclusion
that the selections made were invalid, but did not strike t'iem clown, 1nd
instead, dire~ted the State to constitute a separate expert Committee )Or
making selections to the unfilled seats. The Court further directed that
the Committee should interview only the candidates shown in the waiting
list and t'1ose who moved unsuccessfully the High Court a"d this CN\ft.
This Court observed that the 75 marks allocated for interview "should
be divid.d equally among the live different heads with respect to which
the marks should be given at the interview.
In pursuance of the direction the State constituted a Selection Committee.
The Committee- called for
interview several
other candidates
. besides those asked t<(be interviewed by this Court, though the Committee
refrained from interviewing such additional candidates. The Selection Committee also distributed the 75 interview marks among the live heads not
equally but according to its own discretion. Candidates were se!ecteo for all
the unfilled seats but the petitioner was not selected. He challenged the
selection on the grounds that : ( 1) the Seleotion Committee showed open
hostility to him at the interview, (2) the violatioi of the directions of
this Court showed malafides, and (3) those illegalities vitiated the selection made.
HELD : ( 1) The Selection Committee denied that they had exhibited
any hostility towards the petitioner. The charge of ma afides has to be
established by the ·petitioner by satisfactory evidence, and the fact that the
petitioner could not get anv outside evidence to establish what happened
at the interview cannot shift the burden that is on him, [451 F-H]
(2) The Selectiot Committee explained that they called additional
candidates for interview because they did . no~ understand the SCC!pe
<?f
the judgment of this Court, and that they ~1st"!but~d the 75 ma:ks tn t~eir
dicretion because there was no spec;fic direction rn the operative portion
of the jud~ment of thi~ Court t? distribute them ,equally. Though t!ie
explanation was not sattsfactory, it could not be said that the Committee
had acted mala fide. [452 B.C; 453 E-F]
( 3) The interview rules were made by Government a~d Goverr•ment
alone could have distributed the marks amongst the va•1ous heads.
Tn
the absence of such a distribution it should be .teemed that each one of
the hea&. carried e~ual marks.
Therefore, the
p~o:~ure ado~ted by
the Committee was illegal and contrary to the directions of this Court
and was likelv to have affected the result of the interview. [453 F-0]
15-L807Sup.Clf71
450
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1971] 3 S.C.R.
Moreover, the CQnu11ittee, even on the b~is adopted by it, had· proceeded on wholly wrong premises while granting marks to the petitioner
under the liead 'National Cadet Corps activities'. [455 F-G]
Therefore, the selections made could not be sustained.
ORIGINAL JuR1so1cnoN : Writ Petition No. 623 of 1970.
Petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India for enforcement of fundamental. rights.
K. K. Venugopal and R. Gopalakrishnan, for the pe'.itioner.
S. Govind Swaminathan, Advoca:e-General, Tamil Nadu, S.
Mohan and A. V. Rangam, for respondents Nos. 1 to 5.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
A
B
c
Hegde, J.
This is an unfortunate case.
The peti:ioner, a
bright . young student is approaching this Court for the second
time to seek justice.
He had a brilliant academic career.
He
secured high marks in all the examinations in which he appeared.
In the Pre-University Examination, he secured First class with
D
Grade D plus in Physics and Chemistry and A plus in Biology.
He stood 4th in his college.
Grade D plus represents 85 to 99
per cent marks and A p!us 65 to 75 per cent marks. He applied
for admission for a scat in one of the medicaL colleges in the
State of Tamil Nadu.
He was called for jnterview but wa5 not
selected as he is said to have &ecured low marks in the interview,
E
He challenged before this Court the selections made on various.-
grounds in Writ Petition No. 285 of 1970.
That petition was
heard along with another petition and those peiitions were allowed
on September'· 23. 1970. In that petition the petitioner had alleged that the selections made were illegal for various reasons.
He had also alleged tliat the selections were manipulated by the
F
·
Government. This Court came to the conclusion that the allega-
'i
tion& of ma/a iide had not been established but ye<t
sdections
were held to be invalid for the reasons mentioned in our order
dated 23rd September, 1970.
Despite coming to the conclusion
that the selections made were invalid, we did not strike down the
selections in view of the fact that the selected candidates had not
been made parties to those petitions.
We directed the State of
G
Tamil Nadu to immediately constitute a separate. expert committee consisting of eminent medical practitioners (after excluding all
those who were the members of the previous committee) for making selections to the 24 unfilled seats. We further ordered:
"The selection shall be made on statewise basis. The
committee shall interview only the candidates who are
shown in the waitin~ list, the persons who unsuccess-.
fully moved the High Court of Madras and
the two
H
t
A
B
PERIAKARUPPAN v. TAMIL NADU (Hegde, J.)
451
petitioners before this Court. They shall allot separate
marks under the five heads
mentioned in the rule.
The committee shall take into consideration only matters ;aid down in the rule exclude from consideration
all irrelevant matters- and thereafter prepare a gradation list to fill up the 24 seats mentioned earlier."
In pursuance of the above direction, the State of Tamil Nadu
constituted a selection committee and the selection committee has
selected 24 students for being admitted into one or the other medical colleges run by the Government of Tamil Nadu but the petitioner has not been selected. Thereafter the petitioner has come
up with this writ petition challenging the validity of the selections
C
made. The main contention taken by him in his writ petition is
that in view of the wid~spread publicity given to our previous judgment by the newspapers and the radio, there had been a widespread discontent and criticism in regard to the prevail\ng system
of interviews. That widespread publicity affected very much the
D
E
F
G
H
prestige of the State Government of Tamil Nadu and therefore
the Government of Tamil Nadu was particular to see that the
petitioner was 1;ot selected. He soμght to establish this plea primarily on 1he basis of three circumstances namely ( 1) that during
the ~nterview the members of the selection committee showed open
hostility towards him; (2) that despite the order of this Court,
the selection committee called for interview several persons
in
addition to those directed to be interviewed by this Court and it
is only after he moved this Court to take action against the comn1ittee for disobeying the orders of this Court, the committee refrained from interviewing the candidates other than those directed
to be interviewed by this Court and (3) the selection committee
has deliberately contravened the directions of this Court.
•
The members of the selection committee -have denied the allegation that they had exhibited any hosμ!ity towards the peti•
tioner during the interview.
On the question as to what hap:
pened during the interview, we have only the version of the petitioner on the one side
~nd of the members of the committee on
the other.
On the basis of the material before us it cannot be
said that the allegations made bv the petitioner are established.
The charge of ma/a fide is a serious charge and the same has to
be established by satisfactory evidence.
The fact that 'the petitioner could not get any outside evidence to establish what l:Jappened at the time of the interview cannot shift the burden that is
on him to prove his allegations.
It is true that at one stage, the selection committee called for
interview several candidates other than those asked to be interviewed by this Court. When t1iose persons were called for interview, the petitioner approached this Court to restrain the selection
452
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1971]3 S.C.R.
committee from interviewing those persons. This Court declined
to go into that matter at that stage. Thereafter the State of Tamil
Nadu moved this Court for clarification of our order. We rejected
that application as in our view the order did not require any clarification. Thereafter the selection commiitee refrained from interviewing the candidates whom it had called for interview in addition to those whom this Court asked the selection committee to
interview. The members of the selection committee say that they
did not clearly understand the scope of our judgment and it is in
those circumsta,,ces they called for interview some candidates
whom they ultimately did not interview. Though this explanation
is not very satisfactory but from that circumstance alone, we cannot come to the conclusion that the selection committee had any
ulterior purpose in calling a large number of candidates for interview.
So far as the i!1egalities said to have been committed during
the inferview are concerned, we shall separately deal with them.
But those ijlegalities do not establish either by t.!Jemselves or even
when consdered along with circumstances mentioned above the
plea of m11la fide.
This takes us to the illegalities alleged to have been committed by the selection committee.
As mentioned in our earlier
judgm~rtt, the selection committee was direct<"! to interview the
candidates under five differnet heads viz.-
I. Sports or National Cadet Corps activities;
2. Extra Curricular special services;
3. General Physical condition and endurance;
4. General ability; and
5. Aptitude.
The Government allocated 7 5 marks for interview but it did
not prescribe separate marks for the separate heads. In rhe previous writ petition, it was contended that tbe interview was invahd inasmuch as the Government did not prescribe separate
marks for separat«: heads. We rejected that contention with these
observations :
"It is true that the rule did not prescribe separate
marks for seoarate heads. But thw• in "Ur opinion did
not permit the selection committee to allot marks as it
pleased. Each one of the tests prescribed had its own
importance. As observed at foot-nore 20 at p. 485 of
American Jurisprudence Vol. 15 that the interviewers
need not record precise questions and answers when oral
te<t< are used •o aooraise pe-sona'ity traits; it is sufficient
if the examiner's findings are recorded on the appraisal
A
B
c
D
E
F
I
G
H
A
B
c
D
E
F
G
PERIAKARUPPAN v. TAMIL NADU (Hegde, J.)
45 3
sheet according to the personal qualifications itemised
for measure.
A contention similar to those advanced
by the petitioners came up for consideration before the
Mysore High Court in D. G. Viswana;h v. Chief Secretary of Mysore and Ors. ( 1). There the Court observed
thus:
"It is true that Annexure IV does not specifically
mention the marks allotted for each head.
But from
that circumstance it cannot be held that the Government had conferred an unguided:power on the Committees. In the absence of specific allocation of marks for
each ho~ad, it must be presumed that •the Government
considered that each of the heads mentioned in Annexure
IV as being equal in importance to any other. In other
words we have to infer t'hat the intention of the Government was that each one of those heads should carry
1/Sth of the 'Interview marks'."
If is clear from our judgment that we quoted the decision in
Viswanath's case (supra) with approval.
But yet when the impugned selections were made, the selection committee allotted
marks to the various heads according to their own discretion. It
was admitted before us at the hearing that the selection committee
distributed the 7 5 in~rview marks among the five heads mentioned
above according to its own discretion. For some heads, 10 marks
were allotted and for others 25 marks. The procedure adopted by
the selection committee clearly contravened our judgment in the
earlier writ petition. There is no substance in the plea advanced
on behalf of the selection committee that in the operative portion
of our order, we did not direct the selection committee that each
one of the heads should carry 1/Sth of the "inU!rview" marks. The
selection committee was not the rule making authority. The interview rules were made by the Government. The Government· alone
could have distributed the marks amongst the various heads. Jn
the absence of such a distribution, as mentioned by us in our earlier judgment, it should be deemed that each one of those heads
carried equal marks. There can be no doubt that the orocedure
adopted by the selection committee is likely to have affected the
result of the interview.
As seen earlier, one of the heads under which the interviewers
were asked to interview is ''Snorts or NationHl Cadet Corns acfvities".
It is mot Sports and National Cadet Co'lJs ac•ivities. The
H
reauirement is either S!.JOrts or National Cadet Corps activities.
Admittedly the petitioner produced a "A" certificate to show that
~e had the National Cadet Corps training. Hut yet he was given
(1) A.LR. 1964 M~s. 132.
454
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
(1971) 3 S.C.R
A
only five marks out of the 10 marks allotted for that head by the
selection committee. The petitioner's complaint is that the selection committee had no right to cut .down the marks to which he
was entitled to.
We called upon the selection committee to disclose the basis on which the marks were given for National Cadet
Corps activities. In response to that direction, the Chairman of the
Selection Committee filed an affidavit on December 28, 1970. In B
paragraph 4 of his affidavit he deposed thus :
':Likewise in the National Cadet Corps also, there
are various grades and the candidate may have joined in
N.C.C. in school or college for one. year or 2 years or
more; (ii) passed examinations and attained certificates
and stripes. The grades are certificate-A-Part I, lowest
in rank then Part II, Certificate B, Certificate C being
the highest.
Some candidates may in addition have attained promotions as Lance Corporal, Sergeant or Under
Officer.
Marks were allotted according to the grades
as shown by various certificates."
In the reply affic!avit filed by one Ramanathan, a relation of
the petitioner (the petitioner is a minor), it was averred as follows
(in paragraphs 5 and 6 of the affidavit) :
"I state the averments in para 4 of the supplemental
counter affidavit are misleading and do not attempt to
place before this Honourable Court the entire facts.
The N.C.C.
is divided into· two
Divisions, namely,
Junior Division and Senior Division. The Junior Division
N.C.C. is conducted only in the High Schools,
while the Senior Division N.C.C. only in the colleges.
The 'A' Certificate is issued to the Junior Division
N.C.C. cadets who pass the 'A' Certificate Examination,
while the 'B' and 'C' Certificates are issued to the Senior
Division N.C.C. Cadets who pass the 'B' and 'C' Certic
ficate ExaminaHons respectively held in the Colleges for
the Senior Division.
As such, .a High School student
would be eligible to obtain only an 'A' Certificate and
not the 'B' an<! 'C' Certificates.
6. The students who appeared for the selection to
the Medical course for the year 1970-71 could not have
obtained a 'B' or a 'C' Certificate for the reason that
N.C.C. was discontinued in the State of Tamil Nadu
in all Schools and Colleges in Jan. 1968. In the Anglo
Indian Schools, the school year ends in December, while
in the rest of the schools the school year is from JuneApril. The students studying in the High Schools other
th~n Anglo-Indian Schools
during t11e year 1967-68
c
D
E
F'
G
H
A
B
c
D
E
F
PERIAKARUPPAN V. TAMIL 'NADU (Jfogde, J.)
45 5
would, therefore, not have obtained ewn an 'A' Certificate, as the Certificate is issued after ·undergoing training for a period of one year and then passing .he examination.
The petitioner obtained such a certificate in
January, 1968 for the N.C.C. Course of one year in
regard to which he wrote his examination in October,
1967. The students studying in the schools other than
the Anglo-Indian Schools would, therefore, have not been ·
able to obtain even an 'A' Certificate for the year 196768, since the N.C.C. was discontinued in the middle
of their academic year, N.C.C. was resumed in the State
of Tamil Nadu only in November 1969; and as such
students studying in the schools and colleges in the State
of Tamil Nadu would not have been able to get the 'A'
'B' or 'C' Certificate in the Schools and Colleges during
the academic year 1968-69 or 1969-70. The petitioner,
therefore, sumbits that none among the students who appeared for the selection to the Medi.cal Course for the
year 1970-71 could have obtained the 'B' or 'C' Certificates, the 'A' Certificate, therefore, was in effect the
highest certificate that a candidate appearing for selection for the Medical Course for the year 1970-71 could
possibly obtain. Even this certificate would not be available to the students passing out of the schools other than
the Anglo:Indian Schools and who appeared for this
selection for the Medical Course 1970-71. It is a matter of easy verification as to who among the 24 selected
candidates or the 114 candidates eligible for the selection for these 24 seats in fact possessed the N.C.C. 'A'
Certificate or even the 'B' and 'C' certificates."
No reply was made to the allegations quoted above. Nor was
the learned Advocate General of Tamil Nadu able to controvert
those allegations. ·under those circumstances we must hold that
selection committee had proceeded on a wholly wrong premises
while granting marks under the head "National Cadet Corps activities".
G.
For the reasons mentioned above we hold that the selections
made are vitiated and as such t!hey cannot. be sustained.
We
were informed that the 24 students whose selections are impugned
in the present writ petition have already joined one or the other
medical college in the State of Tamil Nadu and they have been
attending classes for over a nionth. In view of the. h3rdship that
H may be caused to those innocent students, by the ordet tht we
proposed to make, we asked the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu
on January 4, 1971, when the petition came uo for hearing, to
see if he could persuade the Government of Tarnil Nadu to admit
456
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1971 )3 S.C.R
the petitioner in any one of the medical colleges in Tamil Nadu
A
and thus avoid the unpleasant consequence. For that purpose we
adjourned the petition to the 7th of this month. When the matter
was taken up on that date, the learned Advocate General informed
us that the Government was unable to accept our f.uggestion. That
day the hearing of the case was· completed. Bearing in mind the
serious consequences that our order is likely to have on those 24
B
students, we again. asked the Advocate-General to explain to. the
.Government the hardship that i5 likely to be ca.used to the selected
students for no fault of their own and inform 'us the decision of
the Government before . the 14th of this month.
The Government's reaction was not favourable. Hence there is no alternative
before us but lo allow the writ petition, quash the impugned selections and dire~t the Staie of Tamil Nadu to appoint a .fresh selection committee1for making selections in accordance with our order
dated September 23, 1970.
The Sta-re of Tamil Nad11 shall pay
the costs of the petitioner in this writ petition.
V.P.S.
Petition allowed
c