High Court Imposes ₹5 Lakh Cost On Karnataka Examinations Authority For Illegally Allotting Reserved MD Radio Diagnosis Seat To Ineligible Candidate

The Karnataka High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 5 lakh on Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) after holding that it illegally allotted a reserved seat in the MD Radio Diagnosis course, in favour of one Dr. Sunil Kumar H B.

A division bench of Justice P S Dinesh Kumar and T G Shivashankare Gowda allowed the plea filed by Dr. Rajini C K, set aside the seat allotted to Dr Kumar and directed the Authority to allot the MD Radio Diagnosis seat in favour of the petitioner and issue necessary orders in that behalf.

The court has directed that out of the cost of Rs.5,00,00, a sum of Rs.2,50,000, shall be payable to the petitioner and the remaining sum shall be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority.

The court observed, “This is a rule of law society. Any illegal act by anyone much less an instrumentality of the State cannot be tolerated. It is unfortunate that the KEA has dealt with a postgraduate medical seat in this fashion.”

The petitioner is an in-service doctor working in Anegola Primary Health Centre, K.R.Pete Taluk, Mandya District under the Department of Health and Family Welfare. (HFW)

On 19.08.2023, the State Government issued a notification fixing 20% of seats in post-graduation for in-service candidates. Pursuant to the notification, the Directorate of Medical Education published a Seat matrix for 315 seats.

On 02.10.2023 264 seats were announced for the second round of counselling. The seat in 'MD Radio Diagnosis' at MR Medical College, Kalaburgi was reserved for in-service candidates from the HFW Department.

The petitioner submitted that she opted for 'MD Radio Diagnosis' at MRMC, Kalaburgi as her third option. It was submitted that when she appeared for the second round of counselling, she was offered a seat in 'MS- Obstetrics and Gynaecology', which she opted for. Later she learnt that respondent No.6, Kumar, who was from the ESI Department was wrongly allotted the 'MD radio Diagnosis' seat at MRMC, Kalaburgi which was reserved for the HFW Department.

The petitioner argued that the MD Radio Diagnosis seat has been given to respondent No.6 from ESI Department who is not eligible. 

It was submitted that the KEA had deliberately blocked the seat in favour of respondent No.6, which is unsustainable in law.

The action of respondents in allotting seats to Kumar is arbitrary and it has affected the petitioner's academic career, hence, it violated Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India, the petitioner argued.

The Authority contended that there was no malpractice or irregularity in the allotment of seats. All candidates have been allotted seats strictly in accordance with their ranking, it was submitted.

On going through the record the bench noted one Nagaraj was initially allotted a seat in Dermatology.  

The specific stand of the KEA was that Nagaraj, an in-service candidate with NEET ranking of 50411 was allotted a seat in MD Dermatology but in the second round, he chose Radio Diagnosis at Kalaburgi.

It was argued that after choosing such an option, he sought to withdraw from the counselling process on the grounds of the critical health of his father. His request was considered and he was permitted to withdraw from the counselling process.

Following this the court observed that in such a case the seat in MD Radio Diagnosis ought to have been made available to other eligible in-service candidates from the HFW.

It noted that allotment of 130 seats in various disciplines had been made up to 2:40:04 P.M on 06.10.2023, and in that list, MD Radio Diagnosis seat in MR Medical College, Kalaburgi was shown as having been allotted to the candidate having PG NEET rank of 50411 i.e., K.V Nagaraj.

It was also noted that in that list, the petitioner having PG NEET rank of 170997 had been allotted MS Gynaecology in Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Science, Bengaluru.

The Court then observed, “The first part of the list as per Annexure R6 clearly shows that MD Radio Diagnosis was allotted to Nagaraj who had withdrawn from counselling on 06.10.2023 as per the list published by the KEA at 2:40 P.M. It is not understandable as to why the seat in MD Radio Diagnosis was allotted to Nagaraj who could not participate in the counselling after the date of cancellation on 19.09.2023.”

It further noted that  KEA was an instrumentality of the State Government and candidates desirous of obtaining seats for the undergraduate and post-graduation courses repose immense trust in the KEA. Therefore, the KEA is bound to practise a fair and transparent method of allotment of seats," the Court noted.

Allotment of MD Radio Diagnosis on 06.10.2023 to Nagaraj who had withdrawn participation as early as 19.09.2023, corroborates petitioner's strong contention that in the ostensible guise of allotment, the MD Radio Diagnosis seat was blocked in the name of meritorious candidate namely, Nagaraj who had already withdrawn from participation which was approved by the KEA as early as on 19.09.2023, it added.

Rejecting the contention of the authority that the MD Radio Diagnosis seat was withdrawn from the allotment process for being notified in the mop-up round., the court said that no explanation was forthcoming as to why the MD Radio Diagnosis seat was offered in the mop-up round held between October 11-13, 2023.

"Admittedly, the respondent No.6, not being an in-service candidate under HFW Department and ineligible for allotment has been allotted the seat on 13.10.2023. This is wholly illegal and therefore, unsustainable,” it held.

The court also refused to accept the contention of the authority that even if allotment in favour of Kumar is held to be bad in law, the same cannot inure to the benefit of the petitioner.

It said, “In our view, this argument is noted only to be rejected because, the collective stand of the KEA and respondent No.6 is to defeat petitioner's claim in the event the allotment in favour of respondent No.6 is held bad in law.”

Allowing the petition, the court directed the KEA to ensure that the fee paid by the petitioner for MS-Obstetrics and Gynaecology is adjusted towards her seat in MD Radio Diagnosis in MR Medical College, Kalaburgi.

Appearance: Senior Advocate G.S. Kannur for Advocate R. Girishkumar for Petitioner.

AGA Sudev Hegde FOR R1 TO R3.

Advocate N.K. Ramesh FOR R4.

Advocate N Khetty for R5.

Advocate Belle Ravivarma Kumar FOR R6.

Citation No: 2024 LiveLaw (Kar) 34

Case Title: Dr Rajini C K AND The State of Karnataka & Others.

Case No: Writ Petition No 24070 OF 2023.