MBBS aspirant who moved out of Maharashtra seeks admission in State quota seats, HC issues notice

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has recently issued notice to the Maharashtra State CET cell and other concerned authorities while considering a plea by an MBBS aspirant who is facing troubles to get admitted to the State quota seats.

The reason why the petitioner is facing such troubles is the fact that he is an orphan and he had to complete his Board education in the 10th and 12th standards from Bhopal, outside the State of Maharashtra.

Issuing notice in the matter, the HC bench comprising of Justices Anil L. Pansare and Sunil B. Shukre has further directed the authorities to allow the student to complete the registration while considering his case as an exception.

The concerned MBBS aspirant, who is the petitioner in this case, lost both his parents. While his mother died back in 2014, his father passed away back in 2017 when the petitioner was only 15 years old. Until that time, he had been living in Nagpur and studying in there. However, after the death of both his parents, the situation changed and he had to take shelter of home of his maternal uncle.

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Therefore, he had to move to Bhopal for being under the care of his maternal uncle. Naturally, he could not complete his Board Education in the 10th and 12th standards from the State of Maharashtra and he cleared those tests from Bhopal. 

However, due to all these factors, the petitioner MBBS aspirants is now facing troubles to get admission in the MBBS course from the 85% State quota seats in Maharashtra. As per the rules, the students must pass their 10th and 12th standards Board examinations from any recognized institute in the State of Maharashtra in order to avail the State quota seats. Although the petitioner obtained domicile certificate showing that he is a resident of Maharashtra, he is unable to avail the State quota seats because he had to move to Bhopal for his school exams. As a result, the petitioner has now filed the plea and appeared before the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court.

The counsel for the petitioner student, Mr. Bhangde relied upon a previous order of the Bombay HC at Principal Seat at Mumbai in the case of Ms. Priya Kedar Gokhale and anr. vs. The State of Maharashtra, through Ministry of Education. In that case, the HC had dealt with a similar kind of situation. Back then the Division Bench had observed that the Rules 5(1)(A)(vi) and (vii), Rule 5(1)(B) and 5(1)(C) of the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission to Full Time Professional Undergraduate Medical and Dental Courses), Rules, 2016, are not ultra vires, but, are required to be read down to provide relaxation or exemption to those candidates who are born in Maharashtra and whose parents are domiciled in Maharashtra but, due to fortuitous circumstances, as for example, the parents being in the service of the Government and being posted outside the State of Maharashtra.

Taking note of the submissions, the HC bench noted in this case, "According to us, prima facie, the case of the petitioner here stands even on a better footing than the petitioners in that case, as in that case, the petitioners' parents were alive and in the present case, the parents of the petitioner are not alive and it was the fate of the petitioner, having been orphaned, that he was compelled to complete his Board education of the 10th and 12th standards from the State of Madhya Pradesh, which is, prima facie, another kind of fortuitous circumstance."

Therefore, observing the case of the petitioner as an unfortunate circumstance, the HC bench has issued notice in this regard and noted, "Issue notice for final disposal to the respondents, at the admission stage, returnable after four weeks."

The bench also allowed interim relief to the petitioner student and directed the Maharashtra State CET cell to allow the petitioner student to appear in the counselling. 

"Meanwhile, there shall be interim relief in terms of prayer clause (5), until further orders, which reads thus: "5) During the pendency of the instant petition, direct the respondent to allow the registration of the petitioner considering his case as exception to the condition prescribed in Rule 5(1)(A)(vi) and (vii) of the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulations of Admission to Full Time Professional Undergraduate Medical and Dental Courses), Rules, 2016 (Annexure 22-A) and Clause 4.5 and 4.6 of the Information Brochure (Annexure -22) as the petitioner is an orphan," read the order.

To read the order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/bombay-hc-order-189180.pdf

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