NEET | Candidates Who Secured Admission During First & Second Counselling Cannot Participate In Mop-Up Round: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Commissioner for Entrance Commission to not permit the students who had already secured admission and joined in the first and second round of allotment to participate in the mop up counselling of NEET Examination. 

Justice V.G. Arun passed the above order after taking note of the Medical Council of India Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997, which stipulates that candidates who have joined for seats under the All India Quota and State Quota cannot appear for further counselling, and which aspect was also highlighted in the notification issued by the Directorate General of Health Services. 

The petitioner in the instant case had appeared in NEET(UG) 2022 and secured a score of 595, scoring 98.66591 percentile and an All India Rank 23154. She secured a rank of 1677 with reservation benefit of Ezhava community in the State Medical Rank list that was prepared by the Commissioner for Entrance Commission (3rd respondent herein). On the basis of these lists, two rounds of allotments had already taken place, and the Mop up allotment had also started. 

The grievance of the petitioner herein was with respect to a clause in the guidelines for mop up counselling which stipulated that, "In the Mop-up Allotment, College/course transfer will be permitted to all students". 

It was contended by Advocates Aravinda Kumar Babu T.K., Sandra Sunny, and Arun Kumar M.A. on behalf of the petitioner that the said clause was against the provisions of the Medical Council of India Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997, as well as the Apex Court order in Payal Yadav & Ors. v. Medical Council Committee & Ors. It was submitted that as per 1997 Regulations, it was evident that students who secured admission and joined in the first and second rounds of allotment cannot participate in the further counselling. In the notice issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (4th respondent herein), it was specified that candidates who joined up to round two of All India Quota or State Quota shall not be eligible to participate in the further rounds for All India Quota or for State Quota from the academic year 2022 - 23 onwards. In fact, in Payal Yadav & Ors. v. Medical Council Committee & Ors, the Apex Court had directed that the participation in the mop up counselling shall only be in the manner prescribed in the notice. It was further contended that as per Clause 11.6.9 of the Prospectus for Admission to Professional Degree Courses, 2022, the guidelines and the conditions for mop-up counselling ought to be in conformity with the corresponding guidelines of the central councils concerned including NMC/MCC. 

Government Pleader P.G. Pramod on the other hand, argued that what was proposed by the impugned Clause under challenge was only transfer and not allotment. It was submitted that the objective of the Clause is to provide opportunity to more meritorious candidates to secure transfer to unfilled seats. It was further submitted that MCC guidelines are not strictly applicable for the admission process of the 3rd respondent.

It is this context that the Court found merit in the contentions advanced by the counsels for the petitioner. The Court noted that the Apex Court had directed all State Counseling Authorities in the NEET-UG/PG to scrupulously comply with the directions in the notification issued by the Directorate General of Health Services from the academic year 2022 - 23 onwards.

"In such circumstances, the third respondent cannot contend that the candidates who have already joined during the first and second rounds of allotment are only provided with an opportunity to obtain transfer to the higher option exercised by them. For that also those candidates will have to be allowed to participate in the mop up allotment. In view of the Regulations, Ext.P4 notice and the direction in Ext. P3 order, such permission cannot be granted". 

It is in this light that the Court issued the aforementioned direction to the 3rd respondent not to permit the students who had already secured admission and joined in the first and second round of allotment to participate in the mop up counselling. 

The instant petition was dismissed with the above directions. 

Deputy Solicitor General of India S. Manu also appeared in the instant case. 

Case Title: Gauri Sajit v. State of Kerala & Ors. 

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 651

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