ORDER :

Ravindra V. Ghuge, J.

1. In all these petitions, the admitted/undisputed factors are as under :-

A] The Petitioners are students.

B] All are identically placed.

C] All have been admitted to the graduation courses of BHMS/ BAMS/ BUMS/ BPTH/ B.Sc. Nursing.

D] Each of them had sought admission on the basis of the claim of belonging to the reserved category.

E] All of them were admitted by the respective Managements on their mere claim of belonging to the reserved categories and none of them had validity certificates on the dates of their admissions.

F] In all these cases, the Admission Regulating Authority (ARA) has cancelled their admissions and the Review Petitions have been dismissed. Despite these facts, the Managements did not cancel the admissions of these Petitioners.

G] Each of them has received the validity certificate after the admission cut-off date.

2. Considering the above, we do not find it necessary to reproduce the entire selection process or the various dates on which various stages of the admission process were conducted. Suffice it to say that, none of the Petitioners had a validity certificate prior to the cut off date of their admissions and all of them secured validity certificates after the cut off date.

3. The learned Senior Advocate Shri V.D. Sapkal has fairly stated, on behalf of the Management, in Writ Petition No.7418/2022, that the Admission Rules i.e. “NEET UG-2017- Information Brochure of Preference System for admission to Health Science Courses in State Government/ Corporation/ Private & Minority Colleges” as prescribed by the Commissionerate, Common Entrance Test Cell, Mumbai, more particularly Annexure S (Undertaking) annexed to NEET UG 2017, permitted the admission of students, whose validity claims were pending. Under the said ‘Information Brochure of NEET UG 2017’, admission of such students was permissible. Subsequently, the rules were amended with the introduction of the ‘NEET UG 2018 Information Brochure’, and the reserved category validity certificate was made mandatory. With the changed Rules under the ‘NEET UG 2018 Information Brochure’, the Managements were restrained from admitting students claiming to be from the reserved categories, unless the validity certificates were obtained.

4. He refers to Section 4(A) of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000, (for short “the Caste Certificate Verification Act, 2000”), which permits production of proof to the effect that the student has made an application for issuance of a validity certificate. However, he fairly states that Section 4(A) (2)(ii) mandates that the candidate should produce his validity certificate to the Admission Authorities, on or before such date as may be specified by the ARA.

5. He, therefore, submits that the Management has not intentionally or deliberately granted admissions to students who did not have the validity certificates. Ulterior or oblique motives or laches are not attributable to the conduct of the Management. He refers to the judgment delivered by this Court at Nagpur in Kuldeep s/o Sanjay Deshmukh vs. The State of Maharashtra, Writ Petition No.326/2020 decided on 13.07.2022, wherein, this Court concluded that as the candidate had moved an application for issuance of a validity certificate to the Scrutiny Committee prior to the specified date and was thereafter, admitted to a professional course, his admission was not liable to be cancelled by relying upon Section 4(A)(2)(ii) and that Section 4(A)(3) and (4) would not be attracted.

6. Shri Sapkal then refers to an order passed by this Court at the Principal Seat dated 19.12.2022 in Writ Petition No.10361/2018, filed by Hridaya Manoj Ingale vs. Director of Technical Educatio