Eight students who qualified as NEET candidates are seeking the regularization of their provisional admissions to a BUMS Course granted by a Unani College.

They have filed a plea before the Supreme Court, with the matter scheduled for a hearing in a week. Initially, the students had approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court through a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, urging the Ayush Department (Bhopal) to regularize their admissions to the Bachelor of Unani Medicine & Surgery (BUMS) course for the academic year 2022-2023. This request is based on their successful completion of the NEET Examination in 2022.

The petitioners claimed that despite their names appearing on the merit list, they were not summoned for registration and counseling by the respondents. They further alleged that the Ayush Department failed to issue admission letters to them by the deadline. Consequently, they were compelled to seek provisional admission from the Unani College, which provided them with provisional admission letters. However, the Ayush Department did not formalize or confirm these admissions.

The respondents contended that the petitioners failed to register on the online portal before the start of the first counseling session, thereby hindering the subsequent procedures. They also argued that the petitioners' provisional admissions from the Unani college amounted to backdoor entry, as the college lacked the authority to grant such admissions. Additionally, it was emphasized that the academic session in question had already concluded.

Upon reviewing the records, the High Court noted that the petitioners did not adhere to the procedure outlined in the National Commission of Indian System of Medicine (Minimum Standard for Under Graduate Unani Education) Regulations, 2020 for admissions to Ayurvedic, Homeopathy, and Unani Education Courses in Madhya Pradesh.

It added: "The petitioners were not the part of counselling process and took the admissions illegally in the respondent No.3/college, which also did not have any authority to admit the students directly without following the due procedure and the same cannot be termed as anything else, but per se illegal."

"It is the high time that such backdoor entries in educational institutions, including medical colleges, should stop. Lakhs of students all over the country work hard and toil to secure admissions to the educational institutions on the basis of their merit. To permit any backdoor entries to any educational institutions would be grossly unfair to those students who are denied the admissions, despite being more meritorious, on account of the seats being taken and blocked by such backdoor entrants.''

Based on this assessment, the petition was dismissed by the High Court, but the petitioners were granted the freedom to pursue legal action against the Unani College as per the law. Dissatisfied with the High Court's decision, the petitioners sought recourse by approaching the Supreme Court.

In their plea to the Supreme Court, the petitioners asserted that out of the eight individuals, three had indeed registered on the portal but were not summoned for counseling nonetheless. They further argued that on the final date of admission, April 3, 2023, even after the conclusion of the mop-up round of counseling, eight seats at the Unani college remained unfilled. Consequently, the college granted provisional admissions to the petitioners for these eight vacant seats.

In addition to requesting a stay of the disputed judgment, the petitioners are seeking a directive from the court to the respondents, allowing them to participate in the examination commencing on June 12, 2024, for the BUMS first-year course.