State cannot lower NEET eligibility rules- SC slaps Rs 100 crore fine on 10 dental colleges over illegal BDS admissions

State Cannot Lower NEET Qualifying Percentile: 

"...the power to undertake such a reduction in the qualifying percentile is only vested in the Central Government, to be exercised in consultation with the DCI. It must be stated in no uncertain terms that such a power cannot be exercised by any other authority or the State Government, as was done in the instant case," observed the bench.

Relief Granted to Students who Completed BDS course: 

Addressing the situation of the students, the bench noted, "In all this, the only victims are the students who obtained admissions despite not securing the minimum prescribed percentile, possibly on the assurance extended by the colleges as well as under the belief that, once the percentile had been lowered by the State of Rajasthan and also recommended by the DCI, their admissions would stand regularised..."

However, while granting relief to the students, the Apex Court bench asked the students to give an unconditional undertaking for rendering pro-bono services to the State of Rajasthan. It ordered, "...in order to do complete justice in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, we deem it fit to invoke Article 142 of the Constitution of India in the instant matter. As a result, the admissions of the Appellant/students who have passed the BDS course and received their degrees stand regularised. Nonetheless, all Appellant/ students who are being benefitted by these directions shall file an affidavit with the Registrar (Judicial), Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, within a period of eight weeks from the date of pronouncement of this judgment, giving an unconditional undertaking that whenever they are required to render their pro-bono services to the State of Rajasthan during their entire lifetime in exceptional circumstances involving natural calamities, man-made disasters/accidents, health emergencies comprising epidemics, pandemics, disease outbreaks or public health crises declared by competent authorities, or any other situation of similar gravity that threatens public health, safety or welfare as notified by the State of Rajasthan, they shall do so without charging any remuneration for a maximum cumulative period of 2 years."

However, the Court denied granting any relief to those students who were admitted to the BDS course during 2016-2017 and have not cleared the BDS course yet. It held,

"As far as other students, who have still not cleared the BDS course or whose degrees have not been issued yet, are concerned, they are not entitled to any relief by this Court, having regard to the 2007 Regulations, which explicitly provide that any student who fails to complete the BDS course within a period of 9 years from the date of their admission shall be discharged from the course. Thus, the students before us, who were admitted in the Academic Year 2016-17, and have still not cleared the BDS course, cannot be conferred any relief from this Court, as was rightly pointed out by the learned Counsel for the DCI."

"As a matter of caution, we must state that this direction is issued only to save the efforts, time and resources of the students that have gone into achieving their BDS degrees and shall not be treated as a precedent," clarified the bench.

Fine Imposed on Dental Colleges & Rajasthan Government: 

Observing how the standards of medical education were undermined in this case and how NEET eligibility percentile was reduced, the Apex Court held that it required punitive action. Accordingly, it ordered, "We are constrained to express our displeasure at the manner in which the standards of medical education have been undermined in the present case. The colleges committed blatant illegality and willful violation of the 2007 Regulations while admitting students beyond 10+5 percentile, thus warranting strict punitive action. Further, the State of Rajasthan also acted without any authority of law while granting relaxations and failed to timely inform the colleges of the decisions of the Central Government and the DCI."

Ordering Rs 10 crore fine on each of the colleges and Rs 10 lakh fine on the state, the bench ordered,

"In view of the above and considering the facts of this case, especially taking note of the manner in which the 2007 Regulations have been flouted, the Appellant-Colleges are directed to deposit a cost of Rs. 10 crores each, and the State of Rajasthan is directed to deposit a sum of Rs. 10 lacs with the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority within a period of eight weeks from the date of pronouncement of this judgment. It is made clear that the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority shall invest the said fund in a short-term fixed deposit account, in a Nationalized Bank, with auto-renewal facility...The Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority shall utilize the amount of interest accrued on the said fixed-term deposit for the maintenance, upgradation and improvement of One Stop Centres, Nari Niketans, Old Age Homes as well as Child Care Institutions established by the State of Rajasthan within the state. The said interest amount can also be utilised for setting up of new infrastructure for the said social welfare institutions. However, we direct the utilisation of the said amount only with the advice of a committee of the judges of the Rajasthan High Court to be constituted for the said purpose. In furtherance of the said objective, we request the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court to constitute a Committee comprising five judges of the High Court, including at least one woman judge, in order to ensure the effective utilization of the interest amount accrued on the fixed deposit, for the purposes outlined hereinabove."

Background:

The Apex Court bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi delivered the verdict while considering a batch of appeals filed by affected students, private dental colleges in Rajasthan, and the Dental Council of India (DCI), who challenged a 2023 decision of the Rajasthan High Court. The matter concerned a long-standing dispute regarding BDS admissions dating back to 2016, when the State Government had unilaterally relaxed the NEET eligibility criteria to fill up a large number of vacant seats.

Under the revised BDS course Regulations, 2007, the general category candidates were required to secure at least 50th percentile in NEET to be eligible for admission, while the SC, ST, and OBC candidates were required to secure the 40th percentile, and the candidates with lower limb locomotor disabilities were required to secure the 45th percentile.

As per the regulations, only central government had the authority to lower this minimum percentage, in consultation with the DCI and only if sufficient number of candidates were not available.

Since a large number of seats remained unfilled in Rajasthan's private dental colleges during the counselling process for the 2016-2017 session, the State Government, after considering the representations made by the Federation of Private Medical and Dental Colleges of Rajasthan, allowed a 10 percent reduction and an additional 5 percent reduction in the NEET cut-off, citing special needs and the need to fill up the vacant seats. Based on the relaxation granted by the State, the private dental colleges admitted students who failed to secure the prescribed minimum percentage, and even candidates with zero or negative NEET percentages. 

Subsequently, the DCI and the Union Health Ministry held that the State of Rajasthan had no statutory power to lower the NEET qualifying marks and the DCI warned that any admissions made based on such unauthoritised relaxations would be void ab initio.

Following this, on October 6, 2016, the Central Government directed the State to withdraw its relaxation orders and clarified that the power to lower the minimum percentage lied exclusively with the center. Despite this, the State failed to promptly notify the colleges and the admissions continued under the relaxed criteria. 

Subsequently, the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences refused to issue enrollment numbers to several students admitted under the relaxed criteria. Following this, several pleas were filed before the Rajasthan High Court and in April 2018, partially allowing the plea, a single judge bench portected the admissions made after the 10 plus 5 percent relaxation. However, the court had ordered the discharge of students admitted beyond that limit.

This decision was upheld by a Division bench in May 2023, when the Division bench imposed Rs 50 lakh fine on each erring college and directed to pay Rs 25 lakh compensation to the affected students.

Following this, the matter reached the Supreme Court and the students argued that the had pursued and completed the BDS courses under the interim court orders and that cancelling their degrees after nearly a decade would cause irreparable harm. 

On the other hand, the DCI argued that the High Court erred in holding the exemption granted by the State as valid. It argued that the power to lower the NEET cut-offs could not be delegated to the State.  Meanwhile, the private dental colleges challenged the heavy penalties impoed on them and defended their actions as bona fide.

While considering the matter, the Apex Court rejected the argument by the High Court and clarified that there was no delegation of power by the Central Government to the State of Rajasthan. It also ruled that the phrase "necessary action as deemed fit" used in the center's letter forwarding the colleges' representations could not be interpreted as authorizing the state to lower the NEET eligibility criteria.

Further, the court held that such delegation of power was not permitted either under the Dentists Act nor under the 2007 Regulations and the State's decision to lower the cut-off by 10 percent and then by 5 percent was without any legal authority.

The top court bench held that at best, the State of Rajasthan could have represented to the Central Government or recommended to the DCI to take appropriate steps in view of the large number of vacant seats.

"At best, the State of Rajasthan could have made a representation to the Central Government or a recommendation to the DCI to take the appropriate steps in view of the large number of vacant seats. However, the State of Rajasthan took it in its own hands to proceed with the reductions, which cannot be justified by any means," observed the Court.

At this outset, the bench also slammed the private colleges for going even farther than the exemption granted by the State as the colleges admitted students based on Class 12 marks.

"While the relaxation by the State of Rajasthan to the extent of 10+5 percentile was already excessive, the private colleges in the State of Rajasthan, driven by their greed to fill every last seat, overstepped the relaxations already granted by the State of Rajasthan and undertook further admissions by giving relaxations beyond 10+5 percentile. These colleges have granted admissions to students from the NEET merit list relying solely on their 10+2 scores, which resulted in students with even zero and negative scores being admitted. Thus, admissions granted beyond relaxations of 10+5 percentile were also wholly untenable and unlawful. This whole exercise amounted to making a mockery of the rules and regulations prescribed by the DCI for effective dental education in the country," the bench observed at this outset.

"What has transpired in the facts before us is egregious and cannot be condoned in any circumstances whatsoever. The State of Rajasthan as well as the private colleges have not followed the law and there were also some lapses on the part of the DCI as well as the Central Government. When the Federation on 23.09.2016 made a request to the Central Government for lowering the percentile in view of a large number of unfilled seats in the BDS course, the Central Government was not supposed to forward the said representation to the State of Rajasthan for taking “necessary action as deemed fit”. Instead, the Central Government could have asked the State of Rajasthan to verify about the position of vacant seats and thereafter, taken a decision regarding any reduction in the percentile, in consultation with the DCI," it held.

With these observations, the bench regularised the admission of such students who have already completed their BDS courses. However, it imposed Rs 10 crore fine on each of the dental colleges and Rs 10 lakh fine on the State Government.

To view the order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/siddhant-mahajan-vs-state-of-rajasthan-315891.pdf

Also Read: NEET Relaxation beyond limit unacceptable: HC imposes Rs 50 lakh fine on dental colleges, Rs 25 lakh compensation to each student