Andhra Pradesh High Court Directs YSR University To Pay ₹7 Lakh In Damages To Aspirant Who Lost MBBS Seat Due To University's Actions

 The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed YSR University of Health and Science to pay Rs. 7 Lakhs as "damages" to a medical aspirant who lost an MBBS seat "and a chance to pursue a career in medicine" due to the University's action which did not allot her seat that she was entitled to as per merit. 

It also imposed cost of Rs. 25,000 on the University as costs in addition to the damages amount.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R. Raghunandan Rao in its order said, “Accordingly, this Writ Petition is allowed with costs of Rs.25,000/- payable by the respondent-University, to the petitioner, within two weeks, from the date of receipt of this order. We are informed that the petitioner has since joined in a Dental Course. The petitioner has lost the chance to pursue a career in the Medicine on account of the actions of the respondent-University. Though she would be entitled to a seat in Medicine for the course commencing in 2022, it would not be possible to accommodate her as more than two academic years have already passed. In the circumstances, it would be appropriate to compensate her for her loss by award of damages of Rs.7 lakhs.”

The claim of the petitioner was that, she appeared for NEET.  She also had a B Certificate with Grade-A in 10(A) Naval Unit, NCC Nellore and sought admission under the NCC Female Open Category. That, one seat each was available under this category in Sri Venkateswara Medical College, Narayana Medical College and Padmavathi Medical College.

However, despite having a higher rank in NEET and NCC, the petitioner was not the selected candidate under this category in Narayana Medical College. Instead, she claimed, another person–respondent no. 4 who was "lower in merit as well as NCC category ranking" was selected without considering merit. Challenging the same, the present writ was filed.

The University, making allotments, filed counter stating that another candidate named Jakkala Jahnavi, who belongs to BC-D category had been allotted an MBBS seat at Narayana Medical College, Nellore in the open round under local/OC/Female/NCC category, in the first round. Subsequently, in the category round, the said Jakkala Jahnavi is said to have been allotted a seat in SVU Medical College. The University said that as Ms. Jakkala Jahnavi belongs to the BC-D/NCC Category, the seat vacated by her, in Narayana Medical College, had to be given to the next eligible candidate in BC-D/Female, SVU area/NCC. As the petitioner was not belonging to the BC-D Category,  the seat was allotted to respondent no. 4 belonging to BC-D Category, who was next in the merit list.

The University relied upon Government Order (GO) 159 of 2020, Higher Education (E.C) Department, in support of the allotment of seat to the respondent 4. The GO states that an abandoned reservation seat had to be filled by the same category as its predecessor.

Findings

The court noted that it had asked the University  to produce material to show the letter of allotment, issued by the University in favour of Ms. Jakkala Jahnavi allotting her to Narayana Medical College. The court had earlier said that if such letter of allotment is not produced, it would be presumed that Ms. Jakkala Jahnavi was never allotted a seat in the said College and the action of the University in allotting a seat to respondent 4 in the BC-D Category would be unsustainable. 

It noted that an additional affidavit was filed by University but no material was placed to show that Ms. Jakkala Jahnavi was allotted the seat, under the NCC-Female Open Category in Nararyana Medical College prior to her shifting to M/s. S.V. Medical College. 

It further said that despite several adjournments the University has not produced any material or document to show that Ms. Jakkala Jahnavi was allotted a seat in Narayana Medical College or that she had joined in Narayana Medical College prior to moving to M/s. S. V. Medical College. 

"In the absence of such material, it would have to be held that Ms. Jakkala Jahnavi had moved from Shantaram College directly to M/s. S. V. Medical College. In such circumstances, the allotment of seat to the 4th respondent who was lower down in merit, without allotting the said seat to the petitioner was illegal, " the court observed

The court also noted that the actions of the University cost the petitioner a career in her desired field of Medicine, and thus imposed the monetary damages, along with costs. It said that the Rs 7 Lakh damages shall be paid by the University to the petitioner within 2 months from the date of receiving the order.

Case title: Revuru Venkata Asritha vs. State of AP

Counsel for petitioner: G. Priyanka representing V.V. Satish

Counsel for respondents: Tata Venkata Sridevi, Standing Counsel for Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences, GP for higher education, G. Ramesh Babu, Rosedar S.R.A, Deputy Solicitor General of India.

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