Madras HC relief to MBBS aspirant who missed fee deadline due to financial constraints

Chennai: Granting relief to an MBBS Aspirant who missed her MBBS admission deadline just by one day due to financial constraints, the Madras High Court has allowed her to join the course.

"The conspectus of the above discussion leads to the only conclusion that the writ petition deserves to be allowed and there shall be a direction to the respondents to permit the petitioner to join the fourth respondent college as per the allotment in Round-III of the Tamil Nadu State MBBS NEET UG 2025- 2026 counselling issued by the third respondent-Selection Committee, dated 03.11.2025, by accepting the specified fee of Rs.15,00,000/- The fee shall be paid by the petitioner as per the procedure prescribed by 14.11.2025. It is made clear that if this direction is not complied with by the petitioner, the petitioner has to necessarily lose her right to claim for a seat in the fourth respondent-college," ordered the HC bench comprising Justice N. Anand Venkatesh.

The petitioner appeared in the National Eligibility--Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 examination and secured 251 marks in the entrance examination.

On 06.06.2025, the Selection Committee issued the prospectus, for admission to MBBS Course 2025-2026. The petitioner applied under the minority quota for both the Government quota counselling and Management quota counselling. She was allotted a seat in the Madha Medical College under the minority quota in the 3rd round of counselling which took place from 30.10.2025. to 01.11.2025 vide provisional allotment list published on 03.11.2025.

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It was specified in the notification dated 25.10.2025 that after the publication of the results on 03.11.2025, the candidates must report before the concerned college by 08.11.2925.

The petitioner had to arrange Rs 15 lakh to pay fees, and ultimately, the student's mother had to pledge whatever gold jewels that were available with her, and she was able to get the amount only on 08.11.2025. Since 08.11.2025, it was a second Saturday, so it was a bank holiday. Therefore, the petitioner was not able to take the demand draft or make the payment through NEFT or RTGS mode.

Allegedly, in these circumstances, the petitioner and her mother were repeatedly trying to get in touch with the medical college authorities to inform them that they would be able to pay the fees on the next working day i.e. on 10.11.2025. However, there was no response. Since the petitioner did not join the fourth respondent college by 08.11.2025, the seat was considered as not occupied and therefore, it was added towards the vacancy which will be filled up during stray vacancy.

Following this, the petitioner filed the writ petition and sought directions to the authorities to permit the petitioner to join Madha Medical College as per the allotment made in Round-III of the Tamil Nadu State NEET UG 2025- 2026 issued by the third respondent Selection Committee, dated 03.11.2025.

On the other hand, the counsel for the Selection Committee submitted that as per the NEET UG schedule 2025, the last date for joining the State counselling was on 08.11.2025. The Round-III counselling was completed on 03.11.2025 and the candidates had the time between 03.11.2025 to 08.11.2025 to pay the fees and to join in the respective colleges. If the same is not done, automatically the seat goes unoccupied and it will come under stray vacancy.

Further, the counsel submitted that since the seat was unoccupied by the petitioner and therefore, it has been added to the stray vacancy and already the candidates who are participating in the stray vacancy had opted for the said seat. The counsel for the Selection Committee insisted that it had to strictly abide by these schedules fixed and any exemptions could not be granted under any circumstances.

It was also submitted on behalf of the selection committee that like the case of the petitioner, there may be many other candidates who would not have been able to join the course due to non-availability of funds and if the case of the petitioner is positively considered, it will set a bad precedent and every other candidate will knock the doors of the Court and seek for a similar relief, which would ultimately hamper the process of stray vacancy, which has already commenced on 11.11.2025 and would come to an end by tomorrow i.e., on 14.11.2025.

The counsel for the medical college submitted that they did not have any objection to permit the petitioner to join, since the petitioner will be more meritorious in terms of the score obtained in NEET exams than those candidates who may opt for the college, while filling up the stray vacancy round.

While considering the matter, the HC bench observed that the petitioner secured a score of 251 in the NEET examination. "It is also relevant to take note of the family background of the petitioner, that her mother had done her studies only upto 10th standard and her father is working as a painter in Saudi Arabia. The petitioner is aspiring to become a doctor and had put all efforts to join MBBS course. For the score secured by the petitioner, she was able to get a seat in the 4 th respondent college. What stood between the petitioner and the fourth respondent, was a sum of Rs.15,00,000/- which had to be paid to the fourth respondent-college towards fees," observed the Court.

Further noting how the petitioner's mother had to sell her jewellery and could make arrangements for the fees only on the last date, which was a second Saturday, the court observed, "If the above seat is considered to be unoccupied and it is added to the stray vacancy, obviously it will be occupied by those students who have secured lesser marks than the petitioner. There are cases where this Court has to exercise its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and render substantial justice."

"It is not as if the petitioner had intentionally not joined the course by 08.11.2025 and the situation was such that the petitioner had to muster the finance and pay the fees by 08.11.2025. It was sheer bad luck for the petitioner that 08.11.2025 also happened to be a second Saturday and therefore, the petitioner was not able to send the amount through NEFT or RTGS. The other issue that was faced by the petitioner is that the payment gateway in the portal only showed the options of nearly eight banks and the petitioner's mother had a bank account in TMB Bank" it further observed.

Opining that the extraordinary jurisdiction had to be exercised by the Court, the bench observed,

"Ultimately, instead of the MBBS seat going to the hands of the less meritorious student, it will be more appropriate if the petitioner is able to get the seat, as a meritorious student. Therefore, there is no compromise on merit also. It goes without saying that the present order cannot be shown as precedent in every other case and in cases of this nature, this Court exercises its discretion, based on the facts of the given case. This order cannot be applied to all the cases where the candidates do not join the course, within the time stipulated and therefore, the apprehension on the part of the respondents that this order will open flood-gates is too far-fetched."

Accordingly, the court allowed the petitioner to join the seat by paying the prescribed fees by 14.11.2025. However, it clarified that if this direction was not complied with by the petitioner, she would lose the right to claim a seat in the concerned medical college.

To view the order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/madras-hc-neet-admission-308786.pdf

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