Supreme Court orders probe into Gujarat Ayurveda colleges over illegal BAMS, BHMS admissions

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has ordered an inquiry against six Ayurveda colleges in Gujarat for giving conditional admission to students in the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) and Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) courses even though they did not qualify the minimum NEET UG cut off.

At the same time, the top court refused to interfere with the Gujarat High Court’s decision, which had denied relief to these students.

While hearing the matter, a division bench of Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice Vijay Bishnoi made it clear that securing the minimum NEET percentile is mandatory for admission to BAMS and BHMS courses. The Court also said the issue is serious and goes beyond individual students, as illegal admissions can affect students’ futures.

On the argument that the colleges gave admission hoping the government might later reduce the cut-off, the Bench said the rules allow the government, in consultation with the counselling authority, to lower the cut-off if seats remain vacant. However, this does not give the colleges an automatic right to give admission.

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"No misplaced sympathy could be shown to students who were unaware of the procedure," said the court, further directing Gujarat Ayurveda University and the Central Council of Indian Medicine to constitute a Joint Committee to conduct a detailed inquiry. The Committee has been authorised to seek all necessary information from the students and relevant documents from the colleges.

The colleges under scrutiny are Ananya College of Ayurveda, Kalol; Bhargava Ayurveda College, Dahemi; Indian Institute of Ayurveda, Rajkot; B.G. Garaiya Ayurveda College, Rajkot; Global Institute of Ayurveda, Rajkot; and Jai Jalaram Ayurvedic Medical College, Shivpuri.

As per Live Law media report, the students had appeared in NEET-UG 2019–20 but failed to secure the required minimum percentile under the amended AYUSH Regulations, 2018. However, the colleges granted them conditional admission in the hope that the Central Government might later reduce the cut-off, as had been done in certain earlier cases. As per the rules, the minimum cut-off percentile for admission to BAMS/BHMS courses is 50% for the unreserved category.

When the matter was presented before the Gujarat High Court, Single bench Judge held that the admissions could not be protected since the students had not challenged the amended AYUSH Regulations. The judge also observed that the conditional admission letters clearly stated that the admissions were subject to approval by the AYUSH authorities in case of any reduction in cut-off marks.

However, the order was challenged through an intra-court appeal, arguing that the Single Judge had not considered the Supreme Court’s decision in Union of India vs. Federation of Self-Financed Ayurvedic Colleges, Punjab & Others (2020), where a similar situation had arisen. In that case, the Supreme Court had permitted the reduction of minimum qualifying marks as a large number of candidates had failed to secure the required minimum.

When the matter came before the Supreme Court, the Division Bench of the High Court upheld the Single Judge’s decision that such admissions cannot be regularised, clarifying that securing the minimum percentile is mandatory for admission.

As a result, the court refused to interfere with the High Court’s decision. It noted that the case raises a serious issue concerning illegal admissions affecting the future of students.

The bench directed that an inquiry be conducted into the role of the six colleges and issued notices to these colleges seeking detailed affidavits explaining how students who did not meet eligibility criteria were allowed to continue into the third, fourth, and fifth years of the course.

Further, the Court directed Gujarat Ayurveda University and the Central Council of Indian Medicine to constitute a Joint Committee to conduct a detailed inquiry. The Committee has been authorised to seek all necessary information from the students and relevant documents from the colleges.

"We direct that the students and these colleges shall fully cooperate with the Committee in the conduct of the inquiry," the court said in conclusion.

The matter will be heard again after four weeks.

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