NBE FET Exam: Supreme Court Stays Karnataka HC Direction To National Board Of Examination On Student's Medical College Admission

A division bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose further directed for the matter to be listed after the summer vacation.

On 31^st March, 2021, a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and Pradeep Singh Yerur directed the National Board of Examination to admit a student named BS Sujith, who had got 15th rank,  at Ganga Medical Centre and Hospital which had been allotted to a candidate with rank 63 in the Mop-Up round of counselling.

However, the Court went on to clarify that in the event of the said candidate with rank 63 having already been admitted, the admission shall not be disturbed for the present. It further directed the NBE to examine whether there was a necessity and need to hold counselling afresh as all the three seats of Sports medicine, for those having a lower ranking, i.e. 67 and 80, would require to be adjusted depending upon their allotment based on ranking.

The issue commenced when the Petitioner, who had secured rank 15 and was eligible for the FNB Course, participated in the Online Centralised Merit-Based Counselling – FNB 2020 Admission Session. The Petitioner, on account of non-suitability, rejected the seats allotted to him in the 1^st and 2^nd round of counselling, and sought to participate in the final (Mop-Up) round.

In the midst of the Counselling process, a notice was issued which stated that only registered candidates who had not been allotted any seat in the first and second round, would be eligible for the final round. The High Court perused the Flow Chart and noted that it clearly indicated that if a candidate did not accept an allotted seat, they would be eligible to participate in the subsequent round.

The High Court thus recorded that in the instant case, the Petitioner was allotted a seat in the first and second round of counselling, had not accepted the same and had not even paid the fees. Therefore, he was eligible to participate in the Mop-Up round. It was further noted that candidates with the rank 63, 67 and 80 had been allotted seats in Sports Medicine as opposed to the Petitioner who had a ranking of 15.

Taking into account that not permitting the Petitioner to participate in the Mop-Up round would be contrary to the notice dated 3^rd February, 2021, the High Court directed for the Petitioner to be admitted to Ganga Medical Centre and Hospital, without disturbing for the present the allotments to those candidates with ranks 63, 67 and 80.

Challenging this order, the National Board of Examination filed Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court (SLP(c) No. 6489-6450/2021). The Supreme Court stayed the Karnataka High Court order while issuing notice on the SLP.