How NEET-MDS Admissions For 2021-22 Were Carried Out Beyond November 20 Deadline? Supreme Court Asks Karnataka
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday required the state of Karnataka to explain the circumstances in which it carried out admissions for PG courses in MDS for the 2021-22 session beyond the deadline of 20 November 2021. The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and A. S. Bopanna was hearing the writ petition by Maratha Mandals Nathajirao G. Halgekar Institute Of Dental Sciences and Research Centre...
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday required the state of Karnataka to explain the circumstances in which it carried out admissions for PG courses in MDS for the 2021-22 session beyond the deadline of 20 November 2021.
The bench of Justices D. Y. Chandrachud and A. S. Bopanna was hearing the writ petition by Maratha Mandals Nathajirao G. Halgekar Institute Of Dental Sciences and Research Centre and others, inter alia, praying for extension of the last date from 20.11.2021 upto 30.01.2022 for making admissions to PG MDS course in institutions for academic year 2021-22 by following the NEET merit list. By Order dated 03.01.2022, the Court had inter alia observed that:
"In the above backdrop, it has been submitted that in view of the stipulation which is contained in the communication of MoHFW dated 12 November 2021 (Annexure P-2), a response may be from the Union of India on the position as it would obtain in regard to the admissions which have been carried out during the first and second rounds of counselling, beyond the cut-off of 20 November 2021.
"Limited only to the above issue, we direct that notice be issued to the State of Karnataka, the Union of India and the Dental Council of India".
"We direct the Secretary, Medical Education of the State Government to file an affidavit explaining the circumstances in which the State of Karnataka breached the deadline of 20 November 2021. The affidavit shall be filed within a period of one week. The Union of India and Dental Council of India may also file their affidavits in the meantime", the bench ordered.
The case will be next heard on Janaury 21.
Also listed on Wednesday was an application for intervention by candidates who have registered for the NEET-MDS 2021 counseling after the due announcement of the date of counseling- "The Applicants have been duly allocated the seats as per their rank in the NEET-MDS 2021- 22 examination. However, on and around 01.01.2022, it came to the knowledge of the Applicants that the captioned writ petition is being filed with respect to the extension of the last date from 20.11.2021 upto 30.01.2022 for making admissions to PG MDS course in institutions for academic year 2021-22 by following the NEET- MDS merit list. That considering the delay in commencement of counseling, the Applicants on multiple occasions had written to the Respondent No. 3 (government of Karnataka) conveying their concerns regarding delay in counseling schedule. However, there was no reply from the Respondent No. 3 on any of the representations. That the seats were allocated after duly following the procedure and as per the rank allocated to the Applicants. However, any delay on part of the Respondent No. 3 in taking out the counseling schedule should not hamper the interest of the Applicants as they are victims of circumstances without any fault on their part", the applicants urged.
On Wednesday, the bench observed that in its order dated 3 January 2022, the Court has noted that though the deadline for completing admissions for PG courses in MDS for the 2021-22 session was extended from 10 November 2021 to 20 November 2021 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and that the Dental Council of India adopted a similar deadline, the State of Karnataka carried out the first round of counselling between 4 and 18 December 2021, while the second round of counselling was carried out between 18 and 30 December 2021. Admissions have been made beyond the cut-off date.
The bench further recorded that Mr Shyam Divan, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner institutions, has submitted that the state of Karnataka was exclusively entrusted with the responsibility of conducting counselling, there being no other modality for completing admissions and it was the state itself which delayed the process and carried out admissions beyond the deadline fixed by the Union Government. It has been submitted that 633 students have been admitted by the state of Karnataka albeit beyond the cut-off date and if these admissions are not regularised at the present stage, the colleges in the State of Karnataka will have no students for three years.
The bench noted that Mr K M Nataraj, Additional Solicitor General appearing on behalf of the Union of India, and Mr Gaurav Sharma, counsel appearing on behalf of the Dental Council of India, on the other hand, have submitted that the state of Karnataka was aware of the fact that the cut-off date was extended only till 20 November 2021. It has been submitted that the classes have already begun and there would be no occasion to extend the deadline. Mr Nikhil Goel, AAG, has appeared on behalf of the State of Karnataka.
The bench recorded that the state of Karnataka has not moved any application or proceeding before this Court though admittedly on 21 December 2021, its representation for extension of time was rejected by the Union Government.
"In these circumstances, we find it necessary that the State of Karnataka must explain the circumstances in which it carried out admissions beyond the deadline of 20 November 2021. Mr Nikhil Goel states that the students were placed on notice in regard to the consequences which may ensue since the admissions are made beyond the cut- off date. We direct the Secretary, Medical Education of the State Government to file an affidavit explaining the circumstances in which the State of Karnataka breached the deadline of 20 November 2021. The affidavit shall be filed within a period of one week. The Union of India and Dental Council of India may also file their affidavits in the meantime", ordered the bench.
The brief facts leading to the filing of the present application for intervention are enlisted as under:
a. National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-MDS 2021 conducted by the National Board of Examination for admission to the Master in Dental Surgery course.
b. Result for NEET-MDS 2021 was declared by Respondent No. 4 (DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL EDUCATION, HEALTH AND FAMILY DEPT GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA) on 31.12.2020.
c. No Counselling Schedule Was Provided by the Respondent No. 1 (Union of India) even until June 2021, which is almost after 6 months of announcement of NEET-MDS result.
d. A petition being Debraj Samanta & Ors. Vs. Medical Counselling Committee & Ors. (W.P. (C) No. 680 of 2021) was filed before the Supreme Court challenging the undue delay in counselling. The Court vide order dated 11.08.2021 observed that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has filed an affidavit that counselling for NEET-MDS for 2021-22 shall commence on 20.08.2021 and shall be completed by 10.10.2021. The Supreme Court disposed off the petition in the Debraj Samanta matter (supra) with a direction for compliance of the schedule for counselling so that the admissions for MDS courses for 2021-22 is completed within time lines indicated.
e. That since the candidates had no update regarding the counselling schedule, the candidates wrote multiple representations to the Respondents on 29.11.2021, 02.12.2021 and 18.12.2021 conveying their concerns regarding undue delay in counselling. The candidates also conveyed in the representations that the deadline communicated by the Dental Council of India was 20.11.2021 and that the candidates will be left helpless in case the counselling is not conducted in a timely manner.
f. That the Applicants and similarly placed candidates had no other option but to wait for counselling to commence and it was only on 04.12.2021 that the Respondent No. 1 released the counselling schedule for NEET-MDS 2021- 22. That the first round of counselling commenced from 04.12.2021 and the second round commenced from 19.12.2021 till 25.12.2021.
g. That the Applicants alongwith similarly placed candidates duly registered for the counselling and were allocated seats as per their rank in NEET-MDS 2021-22. The candidates also paid the requisite fee.
h. That on 23.12.2021, the Respondent No. 2 (Dental Council of India) vide Public Notice No. DE-NEET(MDS)Admission-2021/3477-M inter alia informed as under: "It is informed that in view of the Government of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, New Delhi letter No.V.12025/164/2021-DE [8140101] dated 21.12.2021 (copy enclosed), the Executive Committee of the DCI in its meeting held on 22.12.2021 at New Delhi decided to re-iterate that the cut-off date for admission to MDS Courses for the academic session 2021-22 was extended upto 20.11.2021 and all the dental colleges were directed to upload the details of students admitted by them on DCI Website upto 20.11.2021 (12.00 midnight) and also decided that any request regarding extension of last date for admission in MDS Courses for the academic session 2021-22 or uploading such details of students on DCI Website shall not be entertained by the DCI."
i. That upon receiving the information regarding the aforesaid notice, the candidates wrote to the Respondent No. 3 raising their concerns regarding the delayed counselling. They also raised concerns regarding an undertaking for non-validation of seats which the candidates were made to sign by many colleges.
j. That on and around 01.01.2022, it came to the knowledge of the Petitioners that the captioned writ petition is being filed with respect to the extension of the last date from 20.11.2021 upto 30.01.2022 for making admissions to PG MDS course in institutions for academic year 2021-22 by following the NEET merit list.
k. That Immediately After Getting Knowledge Of The Pendency of the captioned writ petition, the Petitioners are approaching this Hon'ble Court by way of the present application.
l. That a group of 25 doctors have approached the Applicants and due to paucity of time they could not formally be incorporated as an Applicant in the present application. Therefore, their names are added in the list.
The Applicants submitted that the Applicants and similarly placed candidates will be subjected to grave hardship and inconvenience, in case the seat allocated to them is not treated as valid, in view of the following, among other, reasons:
a. It will be a sheer violation of their fundamental right as guaranteed to them under Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India as they will be deprived of a seat which they have gotten after legally completing the required admission process and on the basis of the marks obtained by hem in NEET-MDS 2021-22.
b. That the Applicants have already suffered for more than a year on account of callous behaviour in delaying release of the counselling schedule. It is submitted that it is only after the kind intervention of this Hon'ble Court that the deadline for completion of counselling for NEET-MDS 2021 was announced. Therefore, in an event the allotted seat is not considered fit for admission for session 2021-22 by the Respondent No. 2, the Applicants will be left helpless.
c. That the Applicants are victim of circumstances and are made to suffer without any fault on their part. That it was only on 04.12.2021 that the Applicants received notice from the Respondent No. 3 regarding announcement of counselling schedule. It is most humbly submitted that even after securing a good rank, the Applicants have been put in a situation wherein their admission is in question.
d. That in the event the admission of the Applicants is not considered by the Respondent No. 1 and 2, the Applicants will be left helpless without any mistake on their part.
e. It is most humbly submitted that the Applicants have already been subjected to undue and unjustified delay and after the unprecedented delay, the Applicants cannot afford the present delay in commencing their session for 2021-22.
f. It is most humbly submitted that the delay in commencement of session for NEET-MDS 2021-22 will also affect the batch of NEET-MDS 2022-23. It is most humbly submitted that the date for next NEET-2022-23 is already announced, i.e., 06.03.2022. Therefore, with a delay in commencement of session for the present batch, the next batch will automatically delay, leading to total disturbance in the academic cycle.
g. That such a decision is even contradictory to Governments own decision wherein in view of the rising cases of Covid- 19 examinations of Class X students were cancelled on 14.04.2021. Therefore, any decision regarding the conduct of exam in offline mode will fail to meet the test of proportionality and reasonableness under Article 14 of the Constitution.
h. That the decision of the Respondent No. 2 not to extend the admission deadline will be "manifestly arbitrary" as per the standards laid down by this Hon'ble Court from time to time.
Case Title: Maratha Mandals Nathajirao G Halgekar Institute Of Dental Sciences and Research Centre & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.
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