Merit First! HC Grants Relief to Candidates Denied MBBS Admission over Inadequate Documents

Jaipur: Clarifying that the merit of a candidate should be the exclusive criteria to allot medical admission, the Rajasthan High Court recently granted relief to candidates who failed to furnish adequate documents for MBBS admission.

After the candidates were denied admission due to their class XI mark sheet not mentioning the subject 'Biology', they approached the HC bench seeking relief.

While considering the pleas, a Single Judge bench of Justice Sameer Jain of the High Court held that "...merit scored by the petitioners should be the exclusive criteria for allotment of seats/colleges, and in no manner due to the technical formalities the fundamental rights of the meritorious petitioners ought not to be frustrated and the instant petitions fall under the ambit of the rarest of the rare cases, where judicial intervention is warranted."

Further, the Court noted that the "non-submission of the said certificate by the petitioners (belonging to rural background) during the period of document verification was beyond their control."

The pleas were filed by the candidates who cleared the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2024 examination. After the general counselling, the authorities informed the candidates on 23.10.2024 that there was a Stray Vacancy Round allotment process for MBBS and BDS courses. Accordingly, the petitioners were called for the Document Verification stage conducted on 28.10.2024.

However, since the subject 'Biology' was not mentioned in their XI Class mark sheets, these candidates were asked to submit an affidavit. The petitioners attributed it to promotions from Class XI to Class XII amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. They also reasoned that the Central and the State Governments had directed that it be applied to all the students of that academic year.

Accordingly, the petitioner submitted an affidavit on 28.10.2024 along with the bond for MBBS/BDS allotment. Even though the petitioner's name was mentioned in the revised provisional combined merit list, her name was excluded from the Provisional Combined Allotment list for College Allotment. When the petitioner mailed the authorities in this regard, no response was received in this regard.

Aggrieved by this, the petitioner along with others having similar grievances approached the Court. The petitioner's counsel argued that even though the petitioner was a meritorious candidate, her name was excluded from the list, which was violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. Further, it was claimed that the petitioners were given no opportunity to submit the certificate in the anticipated/prescribed format.

Reliance was placed on the judgment in the case of Asha Vs. Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences & Ors. Referring to this, the counsel argued that since the petitioner was meritorious, it should have been an exclusive criterion for allocating the seats.

On the other hand, the counsel for the State, National Medical Commission, Rajasthan Neet UG Medical And Dental Admission/counseling Board-2024 submitted that the petitioners were well informed in time that it was mandatory to furnish Class XI Mark sheet along with relevant subjects to get through the Stray Vacancy Round.

The counsel further referred to the Affidavit submitted by the Chairman of the Counselling Board, which mentioned that only 878 out of a total of 920 candidates cleared the document verification stage. Referring to this, the counsel argued that the petitioner had no vested right for allocation of the seats in the instant Stray Vacancy Round. Further, it was pointed out that 19 candidates had not even submitted the promotion certificates wherein Biology was one of their subjects in 11th Grade.

While considering the issue, the HC bench after perusing the chronology of events, observed, "Upon a bare perusal of the afore-tabulated information, it can be deduced that the respondents have scheduled and conducted the said document verification/Stray Vacancy Round in a great haste during the period of public and office holidays on account of Deepawali. Withal, no sufficient or reasonable time was granted by the respondents, and no prudent person can obtain the said Provisional Certificate from the school authorities, especially within the limited time provided and on dates where it was public and office holidays."

After glancing through the application form of the petitioner candidate, the Court noted that the relevant mandatory documents, which are expected to be with the candidate upon being successful/meritorious in the said examination includes Class X and XII's mark sheets and the same were duly submitted by the petitioner candidates.

"Upon a perusal of the Provisional Merit List for Stray Vacancy Round dated 30.10.2024 it is deduced that the candidates (respondent no. 5 and 6) who are less meritorious than the petitioners, are allotted with Colleges of their preference and the candidature of the petitioners is ousted merely on account of non-submission of adequate mark-sheet i.e. Class XI mark-sheet with ‘Biology’ as one of the subjects studied by the petitioner," noted the Court.

The HC bench observed that it was an undisputed fact that the petitioners had completed their Senior Secondary Schooling amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and during this time, the Central and the State Government had encouraged students to attend their lectures virtually and all the students enrolled during that academic year were merely promoted to the next class as per the directions spelled out in order no. 66191/2020-21/14.04.2021 issued by the Director, Secondary Education, Bikaner, Rajasthan (Annexure-17).

"It is pertinent to note that the said format, circulated by the State Government had no column of any subject description, therefore no subject was mentioned in the Upgradation Certificate of the petitioner of Class XI," noted the Court.

The Court noted that the non-submission of the said certificate by the petitioners belonging to rural background during the period of document verification was beyond their control.

"Nevertheless, while taking note of the period during which the said Stray Vacancy Round counseling was scheduled (in-between 28.10.2024 and 03.11.2024) it can be straightforwardly construed that by any endeavor the said certificate in the prescribed format, would have not made available to the respondents amid the public and office holidays (28.10.2024 – 03.11.2024). The said reasons are uncontrollable by the petitioners. Nonetheless, the petitioners are vigilant about their rights and remedies and have therefore, approached this Court as soon as it was possible (soon after Deepawali vacations)," it observed.

Further, the court noted that the

..."Senior Secondary mark-sheet of the petitioners categorically state ‘Biology’ as one of the subjects studied by the petitioners, and the same was duly submitted by the petitioners during the document verification. Withal, the respondents have failed to substantiate the rationale behind the mandatory provision for submitting Class XI mark-sheet depicting ‘Biology’ as one of the subjects studied by the petitioners, especially when the same is undisputedly revealed in Class XII mark-sheet."

"Further, this Court is convinced with the averment made by the learned counsel representing the petitioners that the respondents (the NTA) have granted no time/limited time to furnish the documents, albeit the same was granted in the erstwhile three rounds of counseling," the Court observed.

Taking note of the ratio enunciated in Asha (Supra) and Premsukh (Supra), the Court reiterated that the

"merit scored by the petitioners should be the exclusive criteria for allotment of seats/colleges, and in no manner due to the technical formalities the fundamental rights of the meritorious petitioners ought not to be frustrated and the instant petitions fall under the ambit of the rarest of the rare cases, where judicial intervention is warranted."

Accordingly, allowing the pleas, the court directed the authorities to consider the candidature of the petitioners, strictly on the basis of the merit scored by them in the NEET UG Examination, 2024, and allot Medical Colleges considering the same.

"Candidature/allotment of Colleges qua respondent nos. 5 and 6 is rejected considering the merit scored by them vis-à-vis the petitioners. Respondents are directed to carry out the requisites without further ado, as it is noted that the classes/lectures qua the relevant academic year have already begin," noted the Court.

To view the order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/rajasthan-hc--262962.pdf

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