Cancelling Admissions would be human tragedy: SC on Plea seeking fresh registration for NRI NEET candidates

The petitioner doctors approached the top court after the Kerala High Court dismissed a similar plea by the Kerala Private Medical College Management Association. It was submitted by the petitioner association that the rank list for eligible candidates in the NRI quota consisting of 618 rank holders got exhausted after two rounds of counselling. However, despite the exhaustion of the rank list, 57 seats in the NRI quota were lying vacant in the colleges under the association as on the date of filing the writ petition. It was contended that, since the money collected from the NRI students are utilized for benefiting students from economically weaker sections of the society, the respondents ought to have extended the period to fill up the vacant NRI quota seats.

When the matter reached the Supreme Court, the counsel for the petitioner students pointed out that 46 seats belonging to NRI quota were lying vacant and as per the rules those seats cannot be converted to any other category.

The top court had issued notice in the matter and directed the State of Kerala to inform the court about the unfilled vacant seats after the mop up round.

Also Read: Supreme Court issues notice on plea seeking time for fresh registration in NRI quota before NEET mop-up round

As per the latest media report by Live Law, during the hearing of the petition filed by the NRI students, the the presiding judge of the top court bench, Justice DY Chandrachud referred to the Status Report and said, "They have filed a Status Report saying that out of 38 petitioners only 7 candidates figured in NRI Category List , 12 were excluded, 19 did not claim any quota and none had given option to any of the NRI in the mop up rounds. Total of 45 NRI seats were converted."

On the other hand, the counsel appearing for Kerala Private Medical College Management Association ("KPMCMA"), Dushyant Save submitted before the Apex Court that the State had misguided both the High Court and the Supreme Court. He referred to the Supreme Court judgment in the case of PA Inamdar & Ors v State of Maharashtra, and submitted, "State has misguided the High Court and the Supreme Court There are 7 NRI candidates who had paid 1 Lakh fees and after the mop up was done they were waiting to be absorbed. The Constitution Bench in Inamdar has held that you cannot under any circumstances convert the seats."

Responding to this, Justice Chandrachud pointed out that all the seats have been allocated. At the same time, Justice Kant replied, "Mr Dave how to now cancel their admission."

At this outset, the senior counsel referred to the circular dated March 11, 2022 where the State had allowed candidates not belonging to the NRI category to register themselves as NRI students.

Meanwhile, the counsel appearing for the students, Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi referred to the state's list of NRI candidates. Declaring the State's conduct as egregious and submitted, "Now this is the state's own list of NRI Candidates. Total number is 621 as per this list and the seats are 315. Come to page 89, 7 persons are categorically there. Now all these person's- conduct is egregious. You want to accommodate students from general category for whatever reasons which are not very far to seek."

Recently, another doctor moved to the Supreme Court seeking similar relief and while considering the petition, the top court bench comprising of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant sought about the scenario for NRI quota NEET-PG aspirants from the Medical Counselling Committee, which conducts the counselling for PG medical admission.

Also Read: Explain Scenario for NRI quota NEET PG aspirants: SC asks MCC