1. Admission to post-graduate medical courses — Grant of provisional admission after the prescribed cut-off date and in disregard of the merit list — Challenge to High Court orders. (Para 2 , 4 , 5 , 10 , 11 , 12 )
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2022 Supreme(SC) 1066
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
AJAY RASTOGI, C.T. RAVIKUMAR, JJ.
Board of Governors in Supersession of Medical Council of India - Appellant
Versus
Priyambada Sharma & Others - Respondents
Civil Appeal No. 7533 of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) Nos.3507-3508 of 2020) with Civil Appeal No. 7534 of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.24800 of 2019), Civil Appeal No.... of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.24021 of 2019), Civil Appeal No.... of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.24023 of 2019), Civil Appeal No.... of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.24020 of 2019), Civil Appeal No.... of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.27463 of 2019), Civil Appeal No.... of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.26970 of 2019), Civil Appeal No.... of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.7077 of 2021), Civil Appeal No.... of 2022 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.7111 of 2021)
Decided On : 17-10-2022
Important Points
The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of strict adherence to the admission schedule prescribed by the Medical Council of India's Regulations 2000 and the principle of merit as the sole touchstone for admission to post-graduate courses based on the NEET examination.
Subject
Administrative Law - Education Law
Act Referred
Headnote
Medical Council of India - Admission to Post-Graduate Medical Courses - Regulations 2000 - NEET examination - Admission schedule - Strict adherence to time schedule - No sympathy for admissions beyond cut-off date
Fact of the Case:
The Medical Council of India appealed against the High Court's judgment directing the West Bengal University of Health Sciences to admit students in post-graduate medical courses beyond the cut-off date. The students had participated in NEET (PG) 2019 seeking admission in State quota seats in West Bengal. The High Court granted provisional admission to the students beyond the cut-off date, which was later regularized by the court.
Finding of the Court:
The Court found that the High Court's orders granting provisional admissions beyond the cut-off date were not legally sustainable. It emphasized the strict adherence to the admission schedule prescribed by the Medical Council of India's Regulations 2000 and held that no sympathy could be shown to students admitted beyond the cut-off date.
Issues: The main issue was whether the High Court's orders granting provisional admissions to students in post-graduate medical courses beyond the cut-off date were legally sustainable.
Ratio Decidendi: The Court emphasized the importance of strict adherence to the admission schedule prescribed by the Medical Council of India's Regulations 2000 and held that admissions beyond the cut-off date were not permissible. It also highlighted the principle of merit as the sole touchstone for admission to post-graduate courses based on the NEET examination.
Final Decision: The Court allowed the appeals, quashed and set aside the High Court's orders granting provisional admissions, and held that no sympathy could be shown to students admitted beyond the cut-off date. The Court emphasized the need for strict adherence to the admission schedule and upheld the principle of merit for admissions to post-graduate medical courses.
Legal Category Hierarchy
Advocates Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Gaurav Sharma, AOR, Mr. Dhawal Mohan, Adv., Mr. Prateek Bhatia, Adv., Ms. Mitushi Goyal, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. Abhratosh Majumdar, Sr. Adv., Mr. Rohit Dutta, Adv., Mr. Prabhat Kumar Srivastava, Adv., Ms. Priyata Chakraborty, Adv., Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR, Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR, Mr. Puneet Jain, Adv., Ms. Rashmi Singhania, Adv., Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR, Mr. Yogit Kamat, Adv., Mr. Sudhansu Palo, AOR, Mr. Subhasish Bhowmick, AOR, Ms. Manisha Pandey, Adv., Mr. Rahul Kushwaha, Adv.
For the Petitioner: Mr. Gaurav Sharma, AOR, Mr. Dhawal Mohan, Adv., Mr. Prateek Bhatia, Adv., Ms. Mitushi Goyal, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. Abhratosh Majumdar, Sr. Adv., Mr. Rohit Dutta, Adv., Mr. Prabhat Kumar Srivastava, Adv., Ms. Priyata Chakraborty, Adv., Ms. Shalini Kaul, AOR, Mr. Satish Kumar, AOR, Mr. Puneet Jain, Adv., Ms. Rashmi Singhania, Adv., Mr. Sarad Kumar Singhania, AOR, Mr. Yogit Kamat, Adv., Mr. Sudhansu Palo, AOR, Mr. Subhasish Bhowmick, AOR, Ms. Manisha Pandey, Adv., Mr. Rahul Kushwaha, Adv.
Table of Contents
2. Validity of admissions beyond the cut-off date — Adherence to merit-based selection versus equity and sympathy for students due to administrative delays in counselling. (Para 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 )
3. Strict adherence to the admission schedule is mandatory — Vacant seats do not justify extensions — Merit is the essential criterion for medical post-graduate admissions. (Para 7 , 8 , 9 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 26 )
4. The prescribed admission schedule for post-graduate medical courses must be strictly followed, and no admissions can be permitted beyond the cut-off date. (Para 7 , 9 , 20 )
5. Appeals allowed — Impugned High Court orders quashed and set aside. (Para 27 )
6. Can the admission cut-off date for post-graduate medical courses be extended if seats remain vacant?
No. The court held that the admission schedule must be strictly adhered to. The fact that a large number of seats remain vacant is not a valid ground for granting an extension of time, as doing so would defeat the purpose of the regime. (Para 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 )
7. Can provisional admissions be regularized if students have already undergone a significant portion of the course?
No, if the admissions were made in contravention of the regulations and ignored the principle of merit. Sympathy cannot be shown to students whose admissions were illegal and violated the merit-cum-preference system, even if they have partially completed the course. (Para 24 , 25 , 26 )
8. What is the primary criterion for admission to post-graduate medical courses under the NEET examination?
The principle of merit is the sole touchstone for admissions. Admissions must be made strictly in the order of merit-cum-preference, and any admission ignoring this principle cannot be countenanced. (Para 14 , 25 , 26 )
JUDGMENT :
Rastogi, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. The Board of Governors of Medical Council of India (now, “The National Medical Commission”) has filed these appeals assailing the judgment of the High Court of Calcutta directing respondent no.2-West Bengal University of Health Sciences to admit the respondent-candidates initially by interim orders dated 04th June 2019, 16th July, 2019 and 30th July, 2019 passed by the learned Single Judge of the High Court of Calcutta granting provisional admission pursuant to interim orders to the student-applicants in post-graduate medical courses beyond the cut-off date in complete ignorance of their placement in the order of merit in post-graduate medical courses, which were later disposed of by an Order dated 4th November, 2019 on the premise that since the respondent-students have undergone six months of post-graduate medical course, their provisional admission stand regularized and later directed to be treated as a regular post-graduate student.
3. Facts have been noticed from Civil Appeal @ SLP(C) Nos.3507-3508 of 2020 and Civil Appeal @ SLP(C) No.27463 of 2019.
4. It is not disputed that the respondent-students are MBBS Doctors and appeared in NEET (PG) 2019 entrance examination seeking admission in State quota seats in post-graduate medical courses in medical colleges of the State of West Bengal for the academic year 2019-2020.
5. The result of NEET-PG was declared by the National Board of Education (NBE) on 31st January, 2019. The minimum cut-off qualifying marks for NEET examination are as follows:-
(1) Unreserved category - 50th percentile – 340/1200 marks
(2) Reserved category (SC/ST/OBC)-40th percentile – 292/1200 marks
(3) PwD – 45th percentile – 317/1200 marks
The NEET marks and the rank of the respondent-students are as under:-
(1) Priyambada Sharma-NEET Score: 386/1200; NEET Rank: 57960
(2) Priti Dhara - NEET Score:386/1200; NEET Rank:57948
(3) Alankret Dhillon - NEET Score:387/1200; NEET Rank:57581
(4) Anirban Bose - NEET Score:318/1200; NEET Rank:78437
(5) Mohd. Asif Kabir - NEET Score:341/1200; NEET Rank:71142
(6) Kaustav De - NEET Score:626/1200; NEET Rank:24442
(7) Sujan Kr. Ghosh - NEET Score:403/1200; NEET Rank:53324
(8) Pushpak Ghose - NEET Score:626/1200; NEET Rank:12177
(9) Sanjib Kr. Choudhary - NEET Score:319/1200; NEET Rank:78012
6. The admission schedule for the academic year 2018-19 onwards for post-graduate courses as provided in the Medical Council of India Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000 (hereinafter being referred to as the “Regulations 2000”) amended upto May, 2018 is as follows:-
In the above Appendix the time schedule with regard to Broad Speciality has been substituted with the following in terms of Notification published in the Gazette of India on 20.02.2018 and 05.04.2018.
Admission schedule from the academic year 2018-19 onwards for Postgraduate courses (broad speciality):-
| S. No. | Schedule for Admission | Central Counselling | State Counselling | |
| All India Quota | Deemed + Central Institute | |||
| 1. | Conduct of Exam | By 10th January | ||
| 2. | Declaration of result | By end of January | ||
| 3. | 1st Round of Counselling | 12th March-24th March | 12th March – 24th March | 25th March – 5th April |
| 4. | Last Date of joining | 3rd April | 3rd April | 12th April |
| 5. | 2nd Round of Counselling | 6th April – 12th April | 6th April – 12th April | 15th April – 26th April |
| 6. | Last date of joining | 22nd April | 22nd April | 3rd May |
| 7. | Mop up Round | 12th May – 22nd May | 4th May – 8th May | |
| 8. | Last date of joining | 26th May | 12th May | |
| 9. | Forwarding the list of students in order of merit equalling to ten times the number of vacant seats to the Medical Colleges by the Counselling Authority | 27th May | 13th May | |
| 10. | Last date of joining | 31st May | 18th May | |
Note:
1. All India Quota Seats remaining vacant after last date for joining i.e. 10th May will be deemed to be converted into State Quota.
2. Institute/
