The Court emphasized that technicalities regarding caste certification should not deny admission to eligible candidates, supporting restitutionary justice for meritorious students.

JUDGMENT :

A.S. CHANDURKAR, J.

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard learned counsel for the parties.

2. The petitioner who claims to belong to Mali – Other Backward Class is aggrieved by the denial of admission at the First Year MBBS Course by the respondent no.7 – College at the Institutional Level Stray Vacancy Round 2024 -2025 that was conducted pursuant to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test – NEET, Undergraduate 2024. It is the case of the petitioner that she was eligible under the NEET-UG, 2024, results of which were declared on 26/07/2024. She sought admission at the respondent no. 7- College and her name was reflected in the general Waiting List under the Institutional Level Stray Vacancy Round. The documents required to be submitted amongst others included the Caste Certificate and the Caste Validity Certificate. Since the petitioner was possessing the Validity Certificate dated 19/10/2022 issued by the District Caste Scrutiny Committee, Amravati, she submitted the said Certificate alongwith the Caste Certificate issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Morshi dated 08/08/2024. According to the petitioner, she was not granted admission at the said College on the ground that the date of the Caste Certificate referred to in the Caste Validity Certificate was different from the one submitted by the her. In this backdrop, the petitioner has approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

3. Mr. Priyal Sarda, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that it was undisputed that the petitioner belonged to the Other Backward Class since the Caste Validity Certificate was issued to her. Though a reference in the said Caste Validity Certificate was to Caste Certificate No.40062168962 dated 21/09/2021, the said Certificate could not be furnished as the same had been misplaced. On account of non-availability of old data, she could not get a duplicate Caste Certificate. Hence the petitioner had submitted a fresh Caste Certificate dated 08/08/2024. It was submitted that once the Validity Certificate was issued by the Scrutiny Committee, the status of the petitioner of belonging to the caste mentioned therein was established and the insistence on production of the Caste Certificate was a mere formality. The petitioner could not be denied admission on that count. To substantiate his contention, the learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon the decision in the case of S. Krishna Sradha vs. State of Andhra Pradesh & Others, AIR 2020 SC 47 . It was submitted that the petitioner having approached the College prior to to the cut off date which was 05/11/2024, she could not have been denied admission on this pretext. It was therefore prayed that appropriate relief be granted to the petitioner.

4. Ms. Dhruti Kapadia, learned counsel appearing for respondent no.6 – State Common Entrance Test Cell relied upon the affidavit-in- reply filed on behalf of the said respondent and submitted that since the cut off date for granting admission had been crossed and there was no vacant seat available, the petitioner could not be granted admission. Mr. Akshay Shinde, learned counsel appearing for respondent no.7 - College relied upon the affidavit-in-reply and denied that the petitioner was deliberately denied admission as alleged. On the ground that the original Caste Certificate was not submitted, the petitioner was denied admission. The Caste Certificate referred to in the Validity Certificate was not submitted by her and a different Caste Certificate had been submitted. It was further submitted t