Internal assessment is an eligibility component, not a separate passing head, and conflicting university rules are ultra vires.

Internal assessment under Regulation 12 of the Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 1997 is an eligibility requirement for appearing in the final university examination and not a separate head of passing; its marks are to be added to the theory and practical marks for final assessment. Because the MCI regulations are binding subordinate legislation, a university ordinance that treated internal assessment as an independent passing head conflicted with the central scheme and was ultra vires to that extent. The university was required to recalculate results in accordance with Regulation 12 as correctly construed.

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Issues: (i) Whether the marks obtained in internal assessment under Regulation 12 of the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997 are to be treated as a separate head of passing or are to be added to the theory and practical marks for determining pass/fail. (ii) Whether Rule 57(D) of the University Ordinance, insofar as it treats internal assessment as an independent head of passing, is inconsistent with and ultra vires Regulation 12 of the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997.

Issue (i): Whether the marks obtained in internal assessment under Regulation 12 of the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997 are to be treated as a separate head of passing or are to be added to the theory and practical marks for determining pass/fail.

Analysis: Regulation 12(2) requires a student to secure at least 35% in internal assessment only to become eligible to appear in the final university examination. Regulation 12(4) distributes marks between theory and practical disciplines and the internal assessment marks are assigned weightage within those disciplines. The clarification issued by the Medical Council of India was accepted as the correct understanding of the regulation, namely that internal assessment marks are not a distinct passing head but are to be added to the theory and practical marks respectively.

Conclusion: Internal assessment is not an independent head of passing. It operates as an eligibility requirement and the marks are to be merged with theory and practical marks for the final assessment.

Issue (ii): Whether Rule 57(D) of the University Ordinance, insofar as it treats internal assessment as an independent head of passing, is inconsistent with and ultra vires Regulation 12 of the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997.

Analysis: The Medical Council of India regulations, framed under Section 33 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, are binding subordinate legislation. A University rule made under a State instrument cannot stand if it conflicts with the central regulations governing medical education. Since Rule 57(D) prescribed internal assessment as a separate head of passing contrary to the scheme of Regulation 12, it was repugnant to the central regulation and liable to be struck down to that extent.

Conclusion: Rule 57(D) was held to be ultra vires and void to the extent it made internal assessment an independent head of passing.

Final Conclusion: The University was required to recalculate the petitioners' results in accordance with Regulation 12 as construed by the Medical Council of India, and the challenge to Rule 57(D) succeeded to that extent.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a central regulatory scheme for medical education treats internal assessment as an eligibility component and not as a separate passing head, a conflicting university rule cannot survive and must yield as being ultra vires.

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