NEET-UG : Supreme Court Seeks NMC Response On Plea Of Candidates Who Passed Class 12 As Private Students To Attend Counselling

In a petition filed by NEET-UG aspirants who had passed their 10+ 2 as private students seeking admission in MBBS course as per the allotted institution without insisting for submitting or uploading class XIth marksheet, the Supreme Court on Friday asked National Medical Council ("NMC") to file its counter to clarify the position as to whether such students could appear in counselling or not.

The bench of Justices LN Rao and AS Oka while directing NMC to file its counter adjourned the matter for Tuesday (February 8, 2022).

When the matter was called for hearing, Justice Rao, the presiding judge of the bench asked Advocate Gaurav Sharma appearing for NMC to apprise the bench as to whether students who had passed their 10+ 2 as private students and were not separately issued a marksheet for Class 11 could be allowed to participate in the counseling or not.

Advocate Gaurav Sharma at this juncture submitted that although NMC had written to the concerned authorities with regards to allowing the students who had not undergone continuous study for two years and the authorities response was that there had to be continuous study.

Remarking that all the states except Madhya Pradesh and Punjab were allowing the students who do not have continuous studies to sit for the test, the bench expressed its inclination to give NMC time to take instructions in this regard.

"We have written to the Governments of the states. This problem started last year only," Sharma submitted at this juncture.

He also drew court's attention to the NEET UG 2021 bulletin as per which, "Candidates who have passed 10+2 from Open School or as private candidates shall not be eligible to appear for the 'National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test'" and that the candidature of such students would be subject to the outcome of the SLP's assailing Delhi High Court's judgment in Anshul Agrawal v Union of India and Others (1813/2018)

"You are permitting them to appear & you can't say that there is wrong interpretation of the judgement.We can't go behind this & we are only asking you to get instructions from the concerned authorities as to whether all these students are being permitted to appear in counseling. So that we'll pass interim orders. Counseling is going on," the bench further remarked.

Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate, Mr. Gangele submitted that in the State of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam as well as Maharashtra, Centre did not direct the candidates who had passed class XII exam as private students to upload class XI marksheets for counseling. Senior Counsel further drew Court's attention to the guidelines of counselling issued by Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh.

Advocate Gaurav Sharma at this juncture to oppose the submissions made by petitioner's counsel while referring to the NEET UG Counseling brochure of Uttarakhand said,

"NEET Bulletin's requirement is 10+ 2 with 2 years continuous study. Requirement of 2 years continuous study with practicals is one of the mandatory requirements my lords."

The bench at this juncture while adjourning the matter for Tuesday asked Counsel for NMC to file its counter in this regard.

The petition was filed through Advocate on Record Shashi Kiran.

Case Title: Srishti Nayak and Another v Union of India and Others