Medical seats are national resource, cannot be left vacant: Supreme Court on NEET fraud case
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: While upholding the admission of a NEET UG candidate, the Supreme Court observed that medical seats in government medical institutes are a precious resource, and if such a seat becomes vacant, it is the responsibility of the authorities to allot the same to the next eligible candidates.
The Apex Court bench comprising Justices J.K.Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar made this observation while considering a case where two seats in two medical colleges in Himachal Pradesh had become vacant because the students had submitted forged mark sheets. When one of those seats was granted to a student who appealed, based on the High Court's direction, the same decision was challenged before the Supreme Court.
The concerned student appeared in the NEET UG exam in 2022 and secured 508 marks in the General Category. During the second round of counselling, which took place between 07.11.2022 and 18.11.2022, two other students were initially granted admission to Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru Govt. Medical College and Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, respectively.
Subsequently, it was revealed that the scorecards of two candidates were forged, and therefore, their admission was cancelled since the documents submitted by them did not match the available information on the NMC portal. Consequently, one undergraduate MBBS seat became vacant in each of those two colleges.
The concerned student submitted that before the commencement of the admission counselling process and the verification of relevant documents, the said fact was not detected, and it only came to light on January 17, 2023.
Atal Medical & Research University, Himachal Pradesh, on 17.01.2023, informed the NMC secretary that, as a consequence of admissions granted based on forged documents and the resultant action taken against the concerned students, one seat had fallen vacant in each of the two colleges. Accordingly, permission was sought to fill the said vacant seats at the earliest.
After a considerable delay of approximately five months, NMC on 19.06.2023 conveyed that since the counselling schedule had already been notificated in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court, no admission beyond the schedule date i.e., 29.12.2022, would be permissible for Under Graduate courses under any circumstances.
Meanwhile, immediately after getting to know about such vacant seats, the concerned student submitted a representation to the medical college as well as to the University. Not getting any response, the student filed a plea on 28.01.2023 seeking direction to consider the admission for MBBS admission during the academic year 2022- 2023 on the said vacant post. Permission was further sought to allow the concerned student to join the additional classes. A prayer for being condoned for any shortage of attendance was also made.
Relying on the judgment in the case of Asha v. Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences and Others and also the judgment of S. Krishna Sradha v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Others, the HC bench allowed the petition and issued directions to grant the petitioner student admission to Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru Govt. Medical College, Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, during the academic year 2023-2024.
Further, the Court had directed NMC and Atal Medical & Research University to pay Rs 2 lakh compensation along with Rs 10,000 cost because of the delay caused, due to which the concerned student (petitioner before the HC) could not get admitted in the academic year 2022-2023.
The High Court's order was challenged by the National Medical Commission (NMC) before the Supreme Court. The counsel for NMC relied on the Supreme Court's order dated 20.09.2021 in National Medical Commission v. Sourabh Kumar Jeengar & Ors, contending that the admission as directed by the High Court cannot be allowed in the subsequent year by creating additional seats. It was also contended that once the schedule had been notified pursuant to the directions of the Apex Court dated 21.10.2022 in Ashish Ranjan v. Union of India & Ors, as modified on 08.05.2023, the same could not be overlooked by giving admission to the student.
It was further argued that, as held in the Ashish Ranjan (Supra) case, the NMC does not have the authority to permit the University/College for admission as directed. It was also urged that on receiving the letter dated 17.01.2023, oral communications were made to the University with respect to the intent as communicated in the letter by them on 19.06.2023, and therefore, there was no delay in such communication.
Meanwhile, the counsel for the student urged with vehemence that if a seat is occupied by an ineligible candidate, prioritizing by playing fraud upon the authorities, though allegedly above in merit, would not defeat her right of admission since she is the next meritorious candidate in the merit list being wait listed. It was also suggested that the process of document verification of the candidate who could get admission in second counselling ought to have been made immediately, and if such exercise was not done with promptness, as is the case in hand, next candidate i.e. the concerned student, placed in the merit list should be offered admission sustaining her merit.
Observations by the Supreme Court:
Taking note of the submissions, the Supreme Court bench observed that the High Court rightly analysed the entirety of facts and circumstances and found that the University as well as NMC, remained silent and allowed those seats to go vacant.
"Therefore, the ratio of the judgment of Asha as well as S. Krishna Sradha is rightly made applicable and the direction is issued to grant admission to Respondent No.1 student in Respondent No. 6-College in the MBBS course for the academic year 2022-2023 by creating one additional seat in the next year 2023-2024. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case which have been brought before us, the direction as issued by the High Court is completely justified and because of the said peculiarity, will not be in teeth of the schedule as prescribed by this Court in Ashish Ranjan (Supra)," observed the Apex Court.
Highlighting how medical seats in government institutes are a national resource, the bench observed that if such a seat remains vacant, the authorities must allot the same to the next eligible candidate.
"It cannot be sufficiently underscored that a medical seat in a Government Institution is not merely an individual gain for a private candidate, but is also a precious resource for our nation that is held in public trust by the regulatory authorities. In an eventuality, when such a seat is rendered vacant through fraud, an obligation is cast upon the authorities to restore that seat to the next eligible candidate as per the merit list," noted the Apex Court.
"To allow a seat to remain wasted due to administrative inaction or lethargy, is a subversion of the very purpose of the NEET-UG examination that was to facilitate systematic organization of admissions in government medical institutions," it further observed.
Addressing NMC's contention regarding adherence to the schedule fixed by the court in Ashish Ranjan (Supra), the top court bench observed, "it must be borne in mind of the authorities that the said schedule is a servant of the admission process, provided by this Court to facilitate the timely induction of doctors without delay, not a master that can lead to sacrifice of a meritorious student’s career, that too without having any fault of such candidate. In this regard, we are guided by the principle enunciated in S. Krishna Sradha (Supra) that in exceptional cases where a candidate has been prompt in approaching authorities and delay is entirely attributable to the failure of the authorities to detect fraud, irregularity or respond to queries, as is the situation in present case, equity requires that admission be granted to such a candidate in next academic year possible."
Accordingly, the bench held that the High Court's order was justified. It noted, "In view of the foregoing, we are of the considered opinion that the High Court was completely justified and in fact, because of the vexatious litigation of Appellant, the matter has been stalled before this Court for more than three years. Nonetheless, since we have arrived at a conclusion that the order passed by the High Court is justified, in exercise of jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, we modify the direction as issued by the High Court for grant of admission for the year 2026-2027 instead of 2023-2024 while not interfering with other terms and conditions as directed by the High Court."
To view the order, click on the link below:
https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/2026/04/07/supreme-court-neet-seats-340190.pdf
