Failure To Get Admission Due To Non-Receipt Of OTP: Calcutta HC Denies NEET Candidate's Migration Plea, Cites Delay In Starting Counselling

The Calcutta High Court has denied relief to a NEET candidate belonging to the EWS category who sought to migrate from JIS Medical college, which is a private medical college, to a government medical college.

It was submitted by the petitioner that he belongs to an extremely economically backward section of society and that his EWS rank in the NEET UG exam was enough to secure him admission to a government college. However, it was stated that when he tried to participate in the admission process, he was to receive an OTP from the admission portal, but the OTP never came.

After this, the petitioner stated that he contacted the helpline and was asked to participate in the second round of counselling. When he sought a hearing, the petitioner was told that he could take admission in a private medical college, and when a vacancy arose, he could seek migration to a government college.

In denying the plea of the petitioner, a division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee held:

"The photostat copy of the log obtained from the server of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), as annexed at page 15 of the A/O filed by the respondent nos. 3 to 5 would reveal that though the first round of counselling commenced from 25.07.2023, the appellant fetched the OTP only once and that too on the last date of the said counselling, i.e., on 28.07.2023. Records further reveal that having allegedly failed to obtain the OTP on 28.07.2023, the first representation was submitted about two months thereafter on 26.09.2023, i.e., after publication of the result of the Online Stray Round on 25.09.2023."

The above sequence of facts clearly reveals that the appellant did not take immediate steps after having failed to register himself in the first round of counselling. Having not appeared in the first round of counselling, the appellant cannot even challenge the admission of other EWS category candidates in any government medical college, who may have obtained lesser rank than him in NEET, it added.

It was stated that during the first round of counselling online, the server of the West Bengal Medical Counselling Committee (herein after referred to as WBMCC) was not working properly and the appellant could not register his name since no one-time password (hereinafter referred to as OTP) was sent to his registered mobile number and email Id. He immediately made a phone call to the help line number of WBMCC at about 7 pm and prayed for assistance but he was advised to participate in the second round of counselling.

Aggrieved thereby, he sought for a hearing where he was verbally directed to take admission first at JIS as had been allotted to him in the subsequent counselling process and he was assured that thereafter the said respondent would arrange for his migration to any government medical college.

Counsel for the appellant argued that mere sending of OTP does not prove that OTP was delivered. The appellant thus could not participate in the first round of counselling due to the laches on the part of the respondents. In the event he could have participated in the first round of counselling, he would have positively got admission in a government medical college on the basis of his rank in NEET.

Counsel appearing for the respondent nos. 3 to 5 submitted that in the first of round counselling, registration started from 25.07.2023 and the process went on till 28.07.2023. The OTP for registration was sent to the appellant on 28.07.2023 at 09.48.00 hours, as would be explicit from the document annexed at page 15 of the affidavit-in-opposition (hereinafter referred to as A/O).

The appellant tried to fetch the OTP only once and that too on the last date stipulated for first round counselling. There is no explanation as to why he waited for the last date to fetch the OTP. Furthermore, no representation alleging any inaction on the part of the respondents was submitted till 27.09.2023.

It was submitted that the appellant without raising any objection participated in the subsequent rounds of counselling and locked his choice finally on 21.09.2023. He thereafter waited for about fifteen days, without any reason and ultimately affirmed the writ petition on 05.10.2023. In the midst thereof, admission in the academic session was over and the appellant had also not attended his classes at JIS.

Upon hearing the counsel, the court noted that while the appellant's status as a member of the EWS community and his hardship in pursuing his education would ensure that his case was given fair consideration, it could not be stated that the delay and laches on part of the appellant could be taken lightly.

Thus, it was held that there was no explanation why the appellant waited till the last day of the counselling for the first round to generate his OTP and thereafter delayed in filing the writ petition or objection to the process.

Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed.

Case: Saddam Hossain Versus The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Case No: MAT 875/2024

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Cal) 251

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