Delhi High Court orders Govt to grant supernumerary MBBS seat to National Bravery Award winner
Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Union of India to grant a supernumerary medical seat to a medical aspirant who sought admission for the MBBS course 2019 under the reservation scheme where a seat is reserved for National bravery awardees.
The Division judge bench of Justice Asha Menon and Rajiv Sahai Endlaw was hearing a plea filed by the Union of India (UOI) against a Single Judge bench order.
This came in reference to a case filed by a national bravery awardee, seeking direction to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, to nominate the petitioner for the MBBS course, 2019 against the seat reserved for the National Bravery Awardees, in NSCB Medical College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in terms of Government of India, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Office Memorandum (OM) dated 16th August, 2019.
The counsel for the Union contended the submission stating that the medical aspirant, in this case, is an awardee of the National Bravery Award instituted by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW), a Non-Governmental Organisation but with it the appellant UOI had disassociated as far back as in the year 2018. Moreover, the counsel added, " pursuant to revamping of the Scheme of the National Child Award of Exceptional Achievements, renamed as the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, and after the appellants UOI had so disassociated, the said seats were meant for the awardees of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar only."
The Single Judge did not accept the contention of the appellants UOI and allowed the writ petition of the candidate, directing that the aspirant be recommended by the appellants UOI for being admitted to the MBBS course for the academic year 2020-2021, based on her result of the NEET examination held for the academic year 2019-2020. The Union of India (UOI), through the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare appealed against the judgment.
The government said to the court that it has reserved an extra seat apart from the 2 originally reserved, in compliance with the Single Judge bench but again reasserted that it had been disassociated as far back as in the year 2018.
After considering the submissions, the court observed, "the respondent (awardee) also today has been placed in a position where there is no time left for her to consider any other option and also because there is no possibility of any other candidate for MBBS course in the academic year 2020-2021 securing the said supernumerary seat, even if were to not be allocated to the awardee petitioner."
Hence the court further added,
now we are very close to 31st December, 2020, we have proposed, (i) that the additional seat which has been specially created/got released for this year, be allocated to the respondent, without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the appellants UOI, inasmuch as there is no possibility of any other candidate being entitled thereto or being admitted therefore.
The Division bench said that, even though it hasn't gone into the questions raised by the Union of India, it finds merits in their contention, subject to hearing the respondent. It is further added, " the order/judgment of the Single Judge impugned in this appeal shall not constitute a precedent for any other candidate or for any subsequent year and/or in any other litigation, even before the Single Judges of this Court and will not constitute a precedent otherwise also."
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