Admissions conducted through private counselling are per se illegal: Supreme Court dismisses plea of students admitted through private counselling

By - Divisha Srivastava*

While dismissing the review petitions filed by some medical students, the Supreme Court observed that no sympathy can be offered to those who entered by the backdoor.

Some medical students had filed a petition before the Supreme Court, contesting the Medical Council of India’s discharge letter directing discharge of 67 students admitted to the Glocal Medical College. They stated that they were admitted through the Glocal Medical College’s counselling process and that they had passed the first and second-year examinations.

Also Read - An educated person is not immune to cheating: Delhi High Court denies anticipatory bail to a senior Navy officer accused of rape

In response to their petition, the MCI and the State of Uttar Pradesh claimed that they were admitted through backdoor and that their admission was a consequence of collaboration between the Glocal Medical College and them.

The court noted that the state of Uttar Pradesh has issued a notification mandating centralised counselling for all institutions in the state for admission to MBBS/BDS courses based on NEET 2016. Though minority schools were permitted to admit students from their community based on Centralized Counseling conducted by the State on the basis of NEET 2016, the court noted that this had to be done without compromising the students’ merit.

Also Read - Counsel's failure to argue written submissions is not a ground of review: Bombay High Court

The court stated that the announcement published by the state of Uttar Pradesh made it clear that admissions would only be made through a centralised admission procedure. “It was not at all permissible for the  Glocal   Medical   College to have conducted private counselling. The admissions which were conducted through the said private counselling cannot be termed as anything else but per se illegal”, the bench observed.

The bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao, B.R. Gavai, and Krishna Murari dismissed the review petitions observing that “Glocal Medical College in contravention of the said Notification conducted private counselling, which was not at all permissible in law. The students cannot be said to be ignorant about the Notification issued by the State of Uttar Pradesh...In such a situation, no sympathies can be shown to such students who have entered through backdoor”. 

CLICK HERE TO READ JUDGMENT.

*Divisha Srivastava is a 1st year student pursuing B.B.A.LL.B from S.N.D.T School of Law, Mumbai, Maharashtra.