Recently, the Supreme Court has invalidated an interim order issued by the High Court of Calcutta on July 14, 2022. The High Court's order had allowed medical students to partake in counseling sessions for MBBS admissions at the West Bengal University of Health Sciences, which were slated to commence in August 2022. This permission was granted based on the results of the NEET 2019 examination.

In the said matter, the Bench, consisting of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, revoked the challenged order on two critical grounds. Firstly, the Court asserted that permitting counseling for MBBS admissions in 2022 based on the 2019 NEET results was not justifiable. Additionally, the Court expressed the view that an interim order should not have issued such a directive.

"...2019 NEET results could not have been basis for allowing counselling in the year 2022 for admission to MBBS courses", the Court said.

Case Brief- 

In the said matter, three petitioners who had participated in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET (UG)-2019 respective ranks of 314773, 325058, and 664781, with percentiles of 77.5, 76.9, and 52.68 submitted applications for the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) eligibility certificate as per the prescribed format from the relevant authority on July 22, 2019.

During the proceedings before the Single-Judge Bench of the High Court, it was argued that when the three petitioners, who reside in Jalpaiguri, sought permission from the relevant authorities to participate in Round 2 of the selection process at West Bengal University of Health Sciences, they were informed that they did not meet the eligibility criteria for Round 2 because their EWS (Economically Weaker Section) certificates had not been issued to them at that time. The EWS certificates were ultimately received by the petitioners on August 8, 2019, which was after the completion of Round 2 counseling.

The High Court expressed its regret, noting that it was unfortunate that the petitioners, who had achieved high scores and secured favorable rankings in an All India Examination, along with corresponding rankings for the State of West Bengal, were faced with this situation. Given the exceptional circumstances of the case, the Court determined it appropriate to instruct the Registrar-in-charge of the West Bengal University of Health Sciences to permit the petitioners to participate in the MOP UP counseling for the WB UG MBBS State Quota Seats 2019. This allowance was to be based on the EWS Certificates that had been issued to the petitioners by the relevant authorities on August 8, 2019

“This Court is, therefore, prima facie of the view that the petitioner should be at least to allowed to participate in the counseling session for the admission process that shall commence in August 2022 for the admission to the MBBS course in the West Bengal University of Health Sciences.”

Supreme Court in its matter mentioned that the directions issued by the Single Judge in 2019, which were subsequently stayed by the Division Bench and ultimately led to the challenged order in 2022, should be concluded. As a result, the Court upheld the appeal of the Registrar-in-Charge and rejected the writ petition.

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