SC Rejects The Claim Of Non-Keralite Students To Seek Medical Admission In Minority Colleges In Kerala [Read Judgment]

Three students belonging to Muslim minority community had approached the Supreme Court directly through a writ petition seeking admission in the minority-run medical colleges in Kerala on the basis of their rankings in NEET. The hurdle for the students was the fact that they belonged to Tamil Nadu. The college was would have admitted them without any objection to their non-Keralite status but for the hurdle caused by the directions of the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations. The directions of order dated 23.07.2017 of the CEE stated that all seats in private colleges, including minority colleges, would be done as per centralized counselling done by the Director General of Health Services.  The students wanted the centralized counselling to be done on an All-India basis.

At the time of hearing,  the counsel of the students attempted to challenge the prospectus issued by the State of Kerala through a Government Order  during January 2017, which divided students as Keralite and Non-Keralite. However, there were no pleadings or prayer in the writ petition regarding the challenge to the prospectus dated January 2017. The stand-alone challenge to the directions of CEE would not have survived without impugning the prospectus issued by Govt., which was the basis for division of students as Keralites and Non-Keralites.  Hence,the prospectus was sought to be challenged, on what now appears like an after-thought.

However this attempt to challenge the prospectus without any written pleadings was opposed by the State. It was also pointed out on behalf of the State that admissions on all-India basis can be considered only against the 15% seats earmarked for that, and to the 85% seats specially earmarked for Keralites.

The Supreme Court rejected the prayer of the students, primarily on the ground that the there was no proper challenge constituted against the prospectus in the writ petition.