SC sympathises with student for being maladministration victim

A student, whose admission in a Chhattisgarh medical college was cancelled on the ground of his non-appearance in the NEET, today failed to get any relief from the Supreme Court which however sympathised with him for being a "victim" of maladministration by the state.
The apex court observed that though the "plight" of the student was "unfortunate", "it cannot be helped" as the college and the state did not adhere to law and "turned a blind eye", not only to the court orders, but also to notifications issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
While dismissing the plea filed by the student against cancellation of his admission, a bench of Justices M B Lokur and P C Pant said the college should not have conducted his counselling after the apex court order which had said that National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) was mandatory for admission in MBBS and BDS courses.

The bench rejected the plea of Rishabh Chaudhary, who had got admission in a medical college in the state after clearing the CGMAT-2016 exam conducted by the college, against the letter of Director of Medical Education for cancelling all admissions made by it in violation of apex court's April 2016 orders.
"The college and the State of Chhattisgarh ought to have been aware of these facts, but seem to have turned a blind eye not only to the orders of this Court but to the notifications issued by the Medical Council of India," the bench said.
The bench also sympathised with the petitioner and other students facing similar cancellation of admission, saying "the college and the state of Chhattisgarh have not adhered to the law with the result that the petitioner became a victim of circumstances giving him a cause of action to proceed against the College and the State of Chhattisgarh being a victim of their maladministration."

"The plight of the petitioner is unfortunate but it cannot be helped. We were told during the course of submissions that some similarly placed students participated in NEET and qualified in the examination. Those students like the petitioner who did not participate in NEET and placed their trust only in the College and the State of Chhattisgarh took a gamble and that gamble has unfortunately not succeeded.

The bench said the college, which granted admission to
the petitioner on April 19 after he appeared in an exam on April 3 last year, seems to have "turned a blind eye" to the apex court's April 11 and April 28, 2016 orders which had cleared decks for NEET in two phases.

"There was absolutely no occasion for the College to have conducted the counseling after the recall order passed by this Court on April 11, 2016. The effect of the recall order was that the notification issued by the MCI on December 21, 2010 effectively stood revived in the sense that NEET was the only option available for admission to the MBBS course," it siad.
The top court had on April 11 last year recalled its July 18, 2013 order and revived the MCI notification clearing the decks for holding of NEET, a single common entrance test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses.

Later in the same month, the court had also announced that the exam would be held in two phases - in May and July 2016 - for the academic year 2016-17.
The petitioner had claimed that there were no allegations of impropriety and his admission should not be disturbed and there was no reason why he should be a victim of an apparent wrong committed by the college and by the state government.