Cannot grant PG medical admission on NEET PG 2019 rank: SC denies relief to MBBS doctor
New Delhi: Refusing to grant relief to a NEET PG aspirant belonging to the scheduled caste community, the Supreme Court bench clarified recently that admission cannot be granted for the academic year 2021-2022, on the basis of the rank secured in the NEET PG 2019 examination.
The petitioner doctor had sought relief from the top court after his PG medical admission had got cancelled due to a dispute in the surname in the caste certificate.
Even though the bench comprising of Justices LN Rao and BR Gavai accepted that the doctor should be considered for PG medical admission for the Academic year 2021-2022 as a scheduled caste candidate, it also clarified that admission cannot be granted for this academic year on the basis of the NEET PG rank of 2019.
"We are unable to accept the request of the appellant that he is entitled to admission on the basis of the rank assigned to him in NEET-PG 2019 as he is responsible for applying for issuance of caste certificate with a surname different from that appearing in the other documents," noted the bench as it disposed of the appeal," observed the bench as it disposed of the plea.
The case concerned a doctor, who was admitted to the medical course without availing reservation in Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nasik. After being registered as a doctor in the Maharashtra Medical Council in 2015, the doctor applied for a caste certificate and consequently, a caste certificate was issued in his name. However, in the certificate, the surname of the petitioner doctor was wrong.
Following this, the petitioner doctor appeared for NEET PG 2019 exam and provisionally secured a seat in Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur for admission to PG medical course.
However, he was denied attending any classes by the college as at the time of admission, it was found that his surname mentioned in the caste certificate was different from what was mentioned in all the other documents.
Aggrieved, the petitioner approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court and sought a direction upon the college for admitting him in the said PG course. Disposing of the petition, the HC granted liberty to the appellant to approach the authorities by filing the necessary documents.
Meanwhile, the petitioner doctor applied for the correction of his surname in the caste certificate. However, the application was rejected on the ground that the doctor had applied for the issuance of the caste certificate in the wrong surname.
Finally, when the doctor approached the High Court for relief, his petition was dismissed on the ground that the caste certificate mentioned a different name from what was mentioned in all the other documents.
When the doctor approached the top court, the bench noted that the surname of the doctor in the caste certificate has now been rectified.
The counsel, appearing for the doctor submitted that the admission could not be denied in the ground that the surname of the doctor didn't match the documents that were furnished.
She further pointed out that the denial of granting admission to the appellant doctor in the said PG course was not due to any fault of the doctor but due to a mistake committed by the authorities in not disposing of the request for change of the surname expeditiously.
The fact that ultimately, the surname was changed in the caste certificate would show that there was no misinterpretation of fraud played by the doctor in securing the caste certificate, submitted the doctor's counsel.
She further argued that the appellant doctor's offer of giving an undertaking at the time of admission to get the certificate rectified should have been accepted by the College and admission should have been given to him in 2019 itself.
Pointing out that due to lackadaisical attitude of the college, the appellant has already lost two precious academic years, the doctor's counsel submitted that the doctor cannot be made to suffer further by not being granted admission in the PG course for the academic year 2021-2022 on the basis of the NEET PG 2019 rank secured by him.
On the other hand, the AAG for the state of Madhya Pradesh argued that the doctor is, in any event, eligible to be considered as a scheduled caste candidate for admission to the PG course for the Academic Year 2021-2022 but is not entitled to claim admission on the basis of the rank that was assigned to him in the NEET-PG 2019.
Taking note of the facts related to the case, the top court bench noted, "It is clear from the facts mentioned above that this is not a case where the appellant has produced a false caste certificate or has played any fraud in securing a caste certificate. There is no doubt that he belongs to a scheduled caste category in the State of Madhya Pradesh. It is also not disputed that he completed his MBBS course from the State of Maharashtra as an unreserved candidate."
However, the bench also opined that after correcting his surname back in 2009, the doctor shouldn't have made an application for a caste certificate in 2016 in a different surname.
Even though the court accepted that the appellant doctor should be considered for admission as a scheduled caste candidate for the academic year 2021-2022, the bench also noted that the admission cannot be granted to the doctor on the basis of his rank in the NEET PG 2019 exam.
"There can be no manner of doubt that the appellant is entitled to be considered for admission to PG course for the Academic Year 2021-2022 as a scheduled caste candidate. We are unable to accept the request of the appellant that he is entitled for admission on the basis of the rank assigned to him in NEET-PG 2019 as he is responsible for applying for issuance of caste certificate with a surname different from that appearing in the other documents," noted the bench as it disposed of the appeal.
To read the court order, click on the link below.
