Delhi HC Issues Guidelines To Streamline Medical Post Graduate Entrance/Admission Process [Read Order]

The order was passed by the Single Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh in a writ petition preferred by Dr. MB Menon, aggrieved by denial of seat at the Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, after it was "wrongful allotted" to him by the administration under the DU Quota.

Though the Court refused to grant relief in the matter, it observed that this confusion could have been averted if there were proper checks in place at different levels of counselling.

"The checks ought to have been installed at the time of registration and prior to allotment in the first round. Since there were no checks, and partly due to the Petitioner's fault, he has been put in this situation. The Court while being empathetic with the position in which the Petitioner currently finds himself, however cannot direct confirmation of his admission in MAMC under the Delhi University Quota," it remarked.

SC Issues Guidelines For Admission To Medical Colleges

The Court therefore proceeded to issue the following directions, in order to avoid such a situation the future:

"(i) At the time of registration for counselling there shall be a specific field which candidates would be required to fill up with details of the college and the University from where they have completed their M.B.B.S. course

(ii) Upon the said field being incorporated, the system should bedesigned in such a manner that only those quotas for which the candidates are eligible would be made available to the candidates. For example, if the candidate has completed the M.B.B.S. course from Kerala and the name of the college is filed up along with the name of the University, the Delhi University quota should not be made available to such a candidate. This would ensure that the complexity created due to the presence of various quotas in counselling is eliminated. This would also ensure that candidates are not put through gruelling circumstances in the course of the counselling, which takes place over a period of three to four months every year.

(iii) After registration, prior to allotment of seats, the data submitted by candidates shall be cross-verified with the data available with MCC so that wrong allotments are not made."

Background

The Petitioner was allotted a seat for MD (Pathology) at MAMC under the Delhi University Quota in the mop-up round. He travelled to MAMC along with all the necessary documents and took admission. However, in the evening, after the admission process was completed, he was informed by the college staff that he had been wrongfully allotted a seat under the Delhi University Quota and thus his admission could not be confirmed.

The Petitioner had argued that he should not be made to suffer due to a bona fide human error. However, the Court observed that DU Quota is available to students who have completed their MBBS from DU, and that not being the case herein the Petitioner cannot be allotted a seat under the said Quota.

The Court proceeded to observe that the Petitioner was also allotted a seat in the MD Psychiatry (PS) programme at Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College (SMC), Thiruvananthapuram under the private self-financing category which he did not opt for due to initial allotment of seat at MAMC. It was further informed that counseling process at SMC had been extended upto August 31, 2020.

Thus in the peculiar circumstances of the case, the Court directed the State of Kerala to allot any unfilled seat to the Petitioner in a post graduate medical course to enable him to take admission in this academic year.

Case Details:

Case Title: Dr. Machat Balakrishnan Menon v. Medical Council Committee & Ors.

Case No.: WP (C) 4755/2020

Quorum: Justice Prathiba M. Singh

Appearance: Advocates John Mathew and Karthik SD (for Petitioner); CGSC Kirtiman Singh with Advocates Rohan Anand and Waize Ali Noor (for MCC); Advocates Sanjay Dewan and Nishima Arora (for Respondent-2); Advocates T. Singhdev and Ahijit Chakravarty (for Respondent-4); Standing Counsel G. Prakash (for State of Kerala)

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