NEET 2020: SC to Consider Plea Seeking Admission to Higher Option Seat on Merit and AIQ; Check Details Here

The Supreme Court, on December 24, heard a petition seeking a stay on Kerala HC order on December 15 that dismissed the plea of a student who sought admission to a higher option seat in NEET All India Quota seats and KEAM counselling.

Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Hemant Gupta will take up the petition which accused the Kerala HC of erroneously dismissing the plea of the petition resulting in the denial of admission to a seat that was in the options list of the petitioner in both AIQ and KEAM counselling, disregarding her merit in NEET-UG 2020.

The Kerala HC had said, “It is seen that the respondents have conducted the counseling in accordance with the Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2019 as well as in tune with the directions and decisions of the apex court. As per the provisions contained in Appendix F a further counseling is not permissible once the petitioner has been admitted in the 2nd round of counseling under the All India quota. Therefore, though it is seen that several of the candidates ranked juniors to the petitioner have got admission in the state quota, a further opportunity to participate in another round of allotment is not permissible for the petitioner, in the light of the provisions in the Regulations as well as the judgment of the apex court."

The petitioner argued that 24 candidates who ranked below her had secured admission while she was denied admission. The petitioner had appeared in NEET UG 2020 and secured AIR 11837 and Kerala State Medical Rank No. 1695.

She belonged to the Muslim community which came under the OBC category. In the first round of counselling for 15% AIQ seats she was allotted a college in Andaman & Nicobar and in-state quota she was allotted Amala Medical College, Thrissur which she joined.

However, in the 2nd round for AIQ seats, she was allotted Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences, Karwar, Karnataka and she left her previous allotted seat and joined there.

In the grievance submitted, the petitioner stated that 24 candidates below her had been allotted seats in government colleges in Kerala which were ranked higher in the options list submitted by the petitioner.

The petitioner said in her plea that she has been denied admission to a college where she should have been preferred solely on her merit. In addition, it is revered that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, numerous states did not conduct the 1st round of state counseling.

Due to this, many students did not participate in the 2nd round of AIQ counselling which resulted in 2000 vacancies in AIQ. As such, the petitioner said that the Kerala HC could have offered the vacant seats to higher-ranking candidates who could have chosen them.