Admission Beyond Cut-off Date: HC directs Karnataka Ayurveda Medical College to surrender one management seat to Govt

Bengaluru: Taking action against the Mangalore-based Karnataka Ayurveda Medical College for admitting a student beyond the cut-off date, the Karnataka High Court has asked the institute to surrender one management seat to the Government during the next academic year i.e. 2024-2025.

Further, the HC bench of Justice Sanchin Shankar Magadum also imposed a cost on the college and directed it to deposit Rs 5 lakh with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

The college has also been asked to submit an undertaking to the University saying that it will not repeat such mistake of admitting students beyond the cut-off date.

"In the event there is violation and students are admitted beyond cut-off date, respondent University is at liberty to hold an enquiry and withdraw the affiliation of the petitioner-Medical College, if situation warrants," the court further ordered.

However, the Court granted relief to the student who had been admitted by the college after the cut-off date and asked RGUHS to approve the admission of the concerned student and permit her to pursue the course and attend the exam, subject to eligibility.

Also Read: Admission Post Deadline: HC imposes Rs 1 Crore Compensation on Nursing College for year loss of Students

Both the student and the college approached the High Court and prayed to approve the admission of the student and permit her to appear in the examination. The college filed the plea as it was aggrieved by the inaction on the part of the University in not approving the admission of the petitioner student.

It was claimed by the college that even though it had sent the list of students seeking approval for admission including that of the petitioner student, RGUHS did not approve the admission.

The college stated that the petitioner student was admitted on 11.05.2022 in the place of another student and the originals were submitted via letter/communication dated 11.07.2022. Further, the institute claimed that it could not update the admission details of the petitioner student as the online portal was closed on 10.05.2022. Therefore, a detailed representation was submitted by the college and it requested the University to approve the admission of the petitioner student and consequently, upload her admission into the University admission portal.

However, after taking note of the submissions, the High Court bench referred to the practice adopted by the colleges in admitting students beyond the cut-off date and noted, "The contention of the petitioner-Medical College that, they had admitted Ms.Jirewad Kalyani Sunil having cancelled the admission of Mr.Khot Abid Zameer, appears to be totally misconceived and misleading. The case on hand also depicts the manner in which the Colleges are admitting the students beyond the cut-off date and then passing the blame on respondent-University. The standard ground in all these identical writ petitions which are filed by colleges is that the online portal was closed and therefore, they could not upload and furnish the details of students admitted, is clearly to cover up the admissions made by college after the cut-off date."

"Though college has made a claim that entire list of 100 students was sent to University and Ms.Jirewad Kalyani Sunil was part of the original list of students stands falsified in view of the approval list issued by the respondent-University vide Annexure-D. The claim of the college that in the original list name of Ms.Jirewad Kalyani Sunil was also included is, not only factually incorrect but also contrary to records," observed the Court.

At this outset, the bench also noted that in the plea, the college admits that one student named Mr. Khot Abid Zameer's admission was not approved by the University, as he failed to furnish the original documents.

"The colleges are often taking chances. After respondentUniversity approves the list and if vacancies are found on account of non approval of some of the students, the colleges indulge in making up these vacancies by giving admissions to students beyond cut-off date. If petitioner-college claims that in place of Mr.Khot Abid Zameer admission is given to Ms.Jirewad Kalyani Sunil, then it does not require any enquiry and it clearly demonstrates that admission is given to said student after cut-off date and after partial approval of list sent by college. Therefore, this is a clear case where admission is given to a student in blatant violation of the time schedule fixed by National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM)," added the bench.

In respect of the present case, the Court considered the fact that it is only one student whose future is at stake on account of unlawful admission tendered by the college. Taking note of this, the Court took "a lenient view bearing in mind the interest of the student, who took admission with bonafide intent" and opined, "I am of the view that W.P.No.11214/2023 needs to be allowed only to meet the ends of justice."

"The college also needs to be saddled with exemplary cost for having violated the time stipulated by the apex body for taking admission to the students. Therefore, this Court is of the view that this is a fit case where exemplary cost of Rs.5,00,000/- has to be imposed on the college for having fabricated the list of students while filing the captioned writ petition. Petitioner-college is also bound to give an undertaking that henceforth, it will not admit students beyond cut-off date. In such an event, it is well within the jurisdiction of the University to withdraw the affiliation," ordered the bench.

To read the HC order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/karnataka-high-court-214292.pdf

Also Read: No Expert Opinion in Chargesheet: HC quashes criminal proceedings against 3 Doctors Accused of medical negligence