The court held that the NBE was wrong in rejecting the candidature of Dr. Shidore and Dr. Jaya for admission to the DNB (Post MBBS) Course as they had met the eligibility criteria and the NBE should have granted relaxation of the cut-off date for admission to the DNB (Post MBBS) Course as there were seats available which would have otherwise gone waste.

JUDGMENT :

Rajiv Shakdher, J.

The chasm between justice and what a wooden approach to law can lead to is brought to fore in these cases. The endeavor is to reduce the chasm and hold out hope to those who have toiled and perspired to reach their cherished goal.

2. These are two petitions in which in effect a direction is sought against the respondent i.e. National Board of Examination (hereafter referred to as "NBE") to allot seats to the petitioners pursuant to the final round of counselling held qua DNB (Post MBBS) Course vis-a-vis January 2019 admission session.

3. Pertinently, the schedule for Online Centralized Merit Based Counselling was published via notice dated 25.03.2019. This notice, I am told, was uploaded on the web portal of the NBE. The notice dated 25.03.2019 was followed by a public notice dated 4.06.2019.

3.1 The public notice dated 25.03.2019 set forth the schedule for the counselling process. Dates for the first, second, third, and final round were also indicated in the aforementioned public notice.

4. Importantly, apart from other aspects, applicants were put to notice that original documents would be verified qua those who were called in the second, third and final round of counselling. Both the petitioners were called for the final round of counselling, albeit, on different dates.

5. The petitioner in W.P. (C) No. 7255/2019 was called for the final round of counselling on 19.06.19 while the petitioner in W.P. (C) No. 7581/2019 was called for the final round of counselling on 21.06.2019.

5.1 For the sake of convenience, the petitioner in W.P. (C) No. 7255/2019 would hereafter be referred to as "Dr. Shidore" while the petitioner in W.P.(C) No. 7581/2019 will be referred to as "Dr. Jaya". However, where the context requires otherwise they would be collectively referred to as "petitioners".

6. What is not in dispute is that both Dr. Shidore and Dr. Jaya have obtained their MBBS degree which is the basic qualification for applying for the DNB (Post MBBS) Course. It is also not in dispute that both Dr. Shidore and Dr. Jaya sat for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test - Post Graduate, 2019 (hereafter referred to as "NEET-PG") and that while Dr. Shidore was ranked 19759, Dr. Jaya ranked 34632.

7. It is also not in dispute that while Dr. Shidore qualified her MBBS course in 2015 and Dr. Jaya passed her MBBS course in 2003. What is also not disputed that both, Dr. Shidore and Dr. Jaya, have been denied a seat in the DNB (Post MBBS) Course by the NBE only because on the date of the final round of counselling they were unable to produce their original MBBS degree certificates.

8. The NBE defends its decision to deny seats to Dr. Shidore and Dr. Jaya based on the provision incorporated in its Handbook for Admission to DNB Broad Specialty Courses including Direct 6 Years Courses (Post MBBS) January 2019, Admission Session (hereafter referred to as "Handbook").

8.1 The relevant part of the provision on which reliance is placed by the NBE is extracted hereafter:

"7.4 Final Round (In-person)

xxx xxx xxx

4. Candidates are required to produce the following documents in original at the time of counselling, failing which the candidate shall not be allowed to participate in the counselling:

a. MBBS Degree certificate/Provisional Pass Certificate of MBBS[Provisional certificate of MBBS Qualification is permissible only for those candidates who had passed the MBBS Qualification in the year 2018.]

b. Permanent Registration certificate issued by MCI/State Medical Council for registration of MBBS qualification.

c. Internship Completion Certificate (internship completion date must be on or before 31st March 2019).

d. SC/ST/PWD/OBC certificate issued by [the] competent authority, if applicable.

Caste certificate must be issued by [the] competent authority. The sub-caste should tally with the Central Govt. list.

e. Special category certificate issued by the competent authority, if applicable.

f. Valid Identity proof i.e. PAN Card, Indian Passport, Vo