Relief to Radiologist: Delhi HC Directs NBEMS to Convert DNB Radiodiagnosis Seat OBC to UR Category

New Delhi: Granting relief to a radiologist who sought direction to the authorities to allot her the vacant OBC quota DNB PDCET (Radio Diagnosis) seat at a hospital, the Delhi High Court recently directed the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to convert the OBC (Other Backward Castes) seat to UR (Unreserved/General) category.

The HC bench issued this direction after noting that the OBC quota seat allocated to the concerned hospital was not part of the State Government Reservation Roster.

"...it is clear that the OBC seat allocated to the Respondent No. 3 Hospital is not part of the State Government Reservation Roster as confirmed by the Respondent No. 5, State of Haryana vide letter dated 04.06.2025 and is part of All India Quota. Further, this is not a case of conversion from one reserved category to another reserved category. In fact, this is the case for releasing the seat from a reserved category and converting the same to UR category," observed the HC Single Bench of Justice Tejas Karia.

The plea was filed by a qualified Radiologist having an MBBS and PG Diploma Degree in Radiology (DMRD). She had also completed her 3-year Sernior Residency in Radio-Diagnosis.

Back in January this year, NBEMS issued a notification for conducting DNB PDCET 2025. After appearing in the exam, the petitioner doctor secured 142nd rank in Radio-Diagnosis in the UR Quota. NBEMS published Indicative Seat Matrix on 07.05.2025 for admission to DNB Post Diploma Courses for 2025 admission session with one seat of Radio-Diagnosis available at the respondent hospital reserved for the OBC candidate.

Filing the online counselling form, the petitioner indicated that the said hospital, being a Government hospital, was her first preference while IVY Health and Life Science Punjab (IVY) was her second preference.

The petitioner doctor was under the impression that the OBC quota seats should be released, if there is no taker and would be converted to the UR quota for the hospital.

However, as per the revised allotment details of the DNB (Post Diploma) Counselling 2025 Admission Session (First Round) dated 17.05.2025 published by the NBEMS, there was no OBC candidate for the respondent hospital. On 17.05.2025, the counselling for DNB PDCET 2025 commenced and the petitioner was allotted a seat in IVY.

Since IVY was a completely private hospital and the petitioner had pursued all her degrees from the Government Colleges, she had a preference for the Government College and therefore, she rejected the seat in IVY as the reserved seat in the respondent hospital, which is a government hospital, was still vacant and unallotted.

On 19.05.2025, the petitioner made a representation to NBEMS seeking allotment of the vacant UR seat at the respondent hospital to the petitioner, provided someone above her rank in the merit list did not select the said seat.

As there was no response from NBEMS and since the petitioner had already rejected the seat in IVY, she filed the plea praying for a direction to NBE to allot her the vacant seat of Radio-Dialgnosis at the respondent-hospital against the vacant seat reserved for OBC.

During the case proceedings, the Court on 23.05.2025 recorded the submissions on behalf of NBEMS that as per Clause 4.6 of the Handbook Centralized Merit Bases Counselling for Admission to Post Diploma DNB Courses (2025 Admission Session), NBEMS does not own or control any of its accredited hospitals and the reservation roster was provided by the respective State/Central/Union Territory Governments and other PSUs maintained by them.

It was further submitted by NBEMS that the reserved seat will be allotted to the concerned category candidates only and the conversion of any vacant seat from one reserved category to another reserved category did not fall under the purview of NBEMS. Accordingly, the State of Haryana was impleaded in the matter and the matter was re-notified on 28.05.2025 at the top of the Board.

On 29.05.2025, the Court had directed the Haryana Government to take a decision regarding the conversion of the seat. After this order, on 04.06.2025, Additional Chief Secretary (Health), Government of Haryana wrote a Letter to the NBEMS stating that the seat of Radio-Diagnosis Specialty at the respondent-hospital falls under Central Pool (All India Quota), which is in ambit of the NBEMS. Therefore, the power to decide on the reservation of this seat lied with NBEMS.

While this was the stand of the Haryana Government, the Petitioner relied upon a note issued by Union of India providing the mode of implementation of OBC and PH reservation in 50% All India Quota PG seats. As per this Note, "In the event of exhausting of OBC Seats under All India Quota no OBC candidates can claim OBC seats. The seat if not filled for want candidate, the can be treated as with UR as in the case of SC/ST."

Relying on this, the petitioner submitted that in view of the stand taken by Haryana Government, the seat reserved for OBC quota belonged to AIQ and therefore, the Union of India was the competent authority to de-reserve the seat from OBC category to UR category, if the same remained unfilled in terms of the Note published by the Union Government.

It was further submitted that if no OBC candidate has availed the seat reserved for OBC, the seat should be automatically shifted to UR category as it is a matter of policy, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court and various High Courts in a catena of judgments that a medical seat should not go vacant as each seat lying vacant in an academic year is a loss to the nation.

On 13.06.2025, NBEMS submitted that as per the minutes of 15th Accreditation Committee Meeting (12th Governing Body) dated 09.08.2024, it was observed by NBEMS that the counselling for DNB PD seats is conducted by NBEMS after the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) counselling and accordingly, if the DNB Post Diploma seats remained vacant, the same could not be utilized in any way.

Therefore, it was submitted that DNB PD seats remaining vacant after the counselling to be converted to post MBBS seats for that particular session only and such post MBBS seats created shall be taken up for post MBBS counselling with the consent from the concerned hospitals. 

Observations by the Court: 

While considering the matter, the Court noted that Clause 4.6 of the Handbook Centralized Merit Based Counselling for Admission to Post Diploma DNB Courses (2025 Admission Session) provides that conversion of any vacant seat from one reserved category to another reserved category is not under the purview of the NBEMS.

"The MoM dated 09.08.2024 states that if the DNB PG seats remain vacant, then the same shall be converted into post MBBS seats for that particular admission session," observed the Court, further adding that "However, none of the above deals with the conversion of OBC seats into UR quota. The Note at Annexure A-3 to the Application deals with conversion of OBC seats under All India Quota to UR category, if the same are not filled for want of candidates."

The High Court bench observed that when the plea was filed, it was not clear that the OBC seat allotted to the respondent hospital was part of the All India Quota. In fact, the NBEMS was also not aware about the same as reflected in the orders dated 23.05.2025 and 29.05.2025 passed in this plea.

When Haryana Government clarified that the seat belonged to All India Quota, NBEMS was requested take decision in this regard. Taking note of these factors, the HC bench observed that the OBC seat allocated to the respondent hospital was not part of the State Government Reservation Roster. Further, the bench noted that it was not a case of conversion from one reserved category to another reserved category, it was the case for releasing the seat from a reserved category and converting the same to the UR category.

"Hence, Clause 4.6 of the Handbook Centralized Merit Based Counselling for Admission to Post Diploma DNB Courses (2025 Admission Session), will not be applicable in the facts of the present case. The decision taken at the 15th Accreditation Committee Meeting (12th Governing Body) dated 09.08.2024 will also not be applicable, as the same pertains to DNB PD seats remaining vacant post DNB PD counselling. However, the counselling for DNB PD for 2025 Admission Session is still ongoing as confirmed by the learned counsel for the Respondent No. 1," observed the HC bench.

Granting relief to the petitioner, the Court ordered conversion of the seat to UR category. It mentioned, "Accordingly, the OBC seats allocated to the Respondent No. 3 Hospital for DNB PD for 2025 Admission Session should be converted to UR category by the Respondent No. 1 and be offered to all candidates including the Petitioner in order of merit, who have given preference for this seat of the Respondent No. 3 Hospital in either first or second round of counselling for the 2025 Admission Session."

"In view of the above, the present Petition and the Application are allowed. The Respondent No. 1 is directed to convert the OBC seat at the Respondent No. 3 Hospital for DNB PD for 2025 Admission Session to unreserved category and conduct the counselling for this seat only for all the candidates, who have given preference for this seat of the Respondent No. 3 Hospital and allocate the same as per the merit list. All the pending applications, if any, are disposed of," the bench noted while disposing of the plea.

To read the order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/delhi-hc-dr-aditi-panwar-vs-nbems-292979.pdf

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