Fairness and transparency in medical seat allotment must prevail, prohibiting exclusion of meritorious candidates from the selection process.

JUDGMENT :

B. M. SHYAM PRASAD, J.

1.The petitioners have successfully participated in the qualifying examinations of the Undergraduate - National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test -2025 [NEET (UG)] for admission to the MBBS course in both Government and Private Medical Colleges, and they have secured seats for MBBS course either in the first or the second selection round seat allotment conducted by the Karnataka Examination Authority [KEA]. The petitioners have preferred these petitions for directions to the Directorate of Medical Education [the State Government/ National Medical Council/ KEA to permit them to participate in 'the third selection round' for admission to all the "vacant seats" while impugning 'the Provisional List of the first stage of the third selection round of Seat Allotment dated 24.10.2025' [the impugned List] contending that the KEA could not have excluded them from this List.

2. These writ petitions are listed before a Division Bench, and the members of the Division Bench have come to different conclusions in their respective orders dated 19.11.2025. The decision per Justice Jayant Banerji [the first decision] is to set aside the impugned List with directions to the KEA to:

[i] undertake the process of the third selection round of counselling afresh in two stages strictly as per the Apex Court's directions in the State of UP and another v. Bhavna Tiwari and others 2025 SCC Online SC 1357, and

[ii] endeavour to declare the Final List of Allotment before 02.12.2025.

The decision per Justice K.V. Aravind [the second decision] is to dismiss the petitions directing the KEA:

[i] to complete the third selection round expeditiously, and

[ii] to complete the counselling process of all permissible rounds by 10.12.2025.

After this verdict, this Bench is constituted. This Court opines that the relevant facts must be recorded before the reasons in the two decisions are stated concisely followed by the rival submissions, the questions for consideration and this Court's conclusions.

3. A Brief of the Background facts:

3.1 The National Medical Commission [NMC] has notified, on 02.06.2023, Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023 [GMER-23] for the conduct of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test [NEET (UG)] as contemplated under Section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019. The NMC, under Regulation 7, Chapter III of GMER-23, may designate any agency or authority to conduct the NEET (UG) and for Common Counselling under the guidelines published by it. The Designated Authority for the States, such as the KEA [for Karnataka] who conduct Common Counselling, must submit the Final List of students in the prescribed proforma to the Under Graduate Medical Education Board [UGMEB] within a week of the completion of the Common Counselling. This is a précis of the relevant Statute and Regulations as an introduction and this Court must next record the Bulletins published by the KEA.

3.2 The First Bulletin [E-Information Bulletin-2025]: The KEA, on 22.01.2025, has published common E-Information Bulletin-2025 for the Common Entrance Test for Engineering and different courses and for Common Counselling for Medical/Dental/AYUSH Courses with instructions. This Bulletin contains guidelines for [i] the filing of online applications, [ii] verification of original documents and [iii] the CET Examination. This Bulletin also contains a Note on Seat Cancellation, Refund and Forfeiture of Fee. The KEA has informed the candidates that if