By Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, May 6: The Goa bench of Bombay High Court has directed Goa government to redo the process of admission to the state government run post graduation course of dental college.
 
In a landmark judgement delievered, the bench comprising of Justice B P Dharmadhikari and Justice U D Salvi upheld the plea of Gaurav Nagarcekar, an aggrieved student, who had pleaded that the dental council of India (DCI) rules should regulate the admission process in addition to the state rules.
 
The petitioner had pointed out that he was eliminated from the selection process after state government made 60 per cent weightage for the specialized subject mandatory, this year. 
 
The bench held that the DCI regulations covers the admission process and they are in the occupied field and hence state government could not legislate on the matter.
 
The high court considered the factual situation where under DCI regulations, the petitioner was eligible to be considered and entitled to the admission. By following Goa rules of 60 per cent weightage to the speciality subject criteria, the student who ranked much lower than him superceded the petitioner and he was eliminated; in fact not even eligible.
 
The court found that this clause was not in addition to the DCI regulation but repugnant to it. The court rejected argument of state government that the petitioner had approached the court late and the petition was barred by lapses.
 
The court also took into account that the state government  had agreed to review this clause on February 17, 2009 and had addressed communication to DCI that there was no response from DCI.
 
Finally, the plea of state government to apply the judgement prospectively for future years was also turned down by the bench.