Cannot avail 2 privileges at the same time: Odisha HC junks MBBS aspirant's plea seeking admission under state govt school quota

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has dismissed a NEET UG aspirant's plea, who was denied MBBS admission under the State Government School (SGS) quota during the Spot/Stray Round of OJEE counselling for the 2025-26 academic session.

The aspirant had secured 49.66% marks in the 2014 CHSE Odisha examination, which was below the 50% eligibility requirement for unreserved category candidates. Later, he appeared in 2022 for an examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to improve his Chemistry marks, in which he secured 64 marks. Based on this, he claimed that his overall eligibility criteria stood fulfilled for medical admission and sought benefits under the SGS quota during OJEE counselling.

Refusing to provide interim relief to the aspirant, a division bench comprising Justices Manash Ranjan Pathak and Sibo Sankar Mishra observed,

"the petitioner’s improvised score in Chemistry from NIOS, even if it is taken into consideration for his minimum eligibility to apply for the medical education by giving benefit of the marks criteria from two different Boards, but the reservation cannot be given, because one cannot avail two privileges at the same time."

Background

The case concerns the petitioner who passed the High School Certificate Examination, 2012, conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, and later appeared in the Annual Higher Secondary Examination, 2014, conducted by the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Odisha from Christ College, Cuttack. Subsequently, to improve his Chemistry marks, he appeared in the Senior Secondary School Examination conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in October 2022 and secured 64 marks in Chemistry.

Thereafter, the petitioner appeared in NEET-UG 2025 conducted by the National Testing Agency for admission to undergraduate medical and dental courses and secured 264 marks out of 720 with an All India Rank of 5,52,732. He registered for OJEE counselling under the State quota and, after document verification, was assigned State Rank 4880 and SGS Rank 425.

Although the petitioner participated in Round-1, Round-2 and Round-3 counselling, he was not allotted any seat. His name subsequently appeared in the list of candidates eligible for the Spot/Stray Round counselling held on 13.11.2025, wherein vacant seats under the UR-SGS category were available. However, he was not allotted a seat. According to the petitioner, the authorities orally informed him that he was not being considered under the SGS quota because he had improved his Chemistry marks through NIOS.

The petitioner contended that no written communication or formal order was issued despite his request. He further alleges that candidates with lower NEET ranks were allotted seats under the UR-SGS category.

Arguments

Learned counsel argued that after accepting the petitioner’s candidature and permitting him to participate in the counselling process, the authorities could not subsequently deny him consideration under the SGS quota on the ground of improvement through NIOS. Such action, according to the petitioner, is hit by the doctrine of estoppel and amounts to approbation and reprobation simultaneously. It was also contended that the petitioner satisfied the requirements under the SGS quota and that denial of admission despite allotment of seats to candidates with lower NEET ranks was discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

Aggrieved by the non-consideration of his candidature under the SGS quota, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition before this Court.

On the other hand, Mr J.K. Bal, learned Additional Government Advocate appearing for the State, submitted that the counselling process was conducted strictly in accordance with the Orissa Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007 and the counselling guidelines. He argued that reservation under the SGS quota is available only to candidates who passed both their 10th and 12th examinations from institutions affiliated to the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha and the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Odisha, respectively, and who secured a minimum 50% of marks together in Physics, Chemistry and Biology/Biotechnology at the +2 level.

According to the State, the petitioner had secured only 49.66% marks in the CHSE Examination, 2014. Although he subsequently improved his Chemistry marks through NIOS in 2022, the State contended that such improvement could not entitle him to claim a reservation under the SGS quota and accordingly opposed the relief sought in the writ petition.

Court's Observation

After considering the rival submissions, the bench held that although the petitioner’s improved Chemistry marks obtained from NIOS could be taken into account for satisfying the minimum eligibility requirement for appearing in medical admission processes, the same could not entitle him to a reservation under the SGS quota.

The Court observed that SGS reservation is available only when a candidate produces a single qualifying certificate from the State Board for the 12th examination with the prescribed minimum marks.

The Court held that the petitioner, having relied upon marks obtained from two different Boards, namely CHSE and NIOS, could not claim the benefit of SGS reservation. It further observed that a candidate cannot avail two separate benefits simultaneously.

Accordingly, the Court found no merit in the writ petition and dismissed the same.

"Under the aforementioned circumstances, the petitioner’s improvised score in Chemistry from NIOS even if is taken into consideration for his minimum eligibility to apply for the medical education by giving benefit of the marks criteria from two different Boards, but the reservation cannot be given, because one cannot avail two privileges at the same time. SGS reservation can only be given, if the petitioner would have produced only one certificate from the State Board for 12th Examination having minimum qualifying marks. Therefore, on any count, if the case of the petitioner is considered, it is difficult to concede to the position of law as discussed above based on which the SGS reservation could be made available to the petitioner. Therefore, we are constrained to disallow the prayer made by the petitioner in the writ petition," the bench said.

To view the court order, click on the link below:

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