HC bars institute-level admissions for medical courses in private colleges

The Bombay High Court ruled against the Maharashtra State CET Cell's decision to allow private medical colleges to fill vacant seats at the institute level. The court upheld a communication from the PGMEB that stated institute-level admissions contradicted previous decisions. The court dismissed a petition challenging the PGMEB's communication but acknowledged its validity.

HT Correspondent

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MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court recently ruled against the Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell’s decision to allow private medical colleges to fill remaining vacant MBBS and BDS seats at the institute level. The division bench of Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Abhay Mantri on November 10 declared the CET Cell’s decision, conveyed through a communication on September 26, 2023, as contrary to the law.

The court upheld a communication from the Post Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) to the State CET Cell on October 10, 2023, which highlighted that permitting institute-level admissions for undergraduate or postgraduate medical courses contradicted the PGMEB’s decision of July 24, 2023.

Referring to rules and regulations along with Supreme Court precedents, the bench emphasised that three Common Admission Process (CAP) rounds and one stray vacancy round had already been conducted. Therefore, the State CET Cell had no authority to issue further notices allowing private medical colleges to fill remaining vacant seats at their level.

Medical aspirants Saniya Rahman and Aarya Thakare from Nagpur challenged the PGMEB communication of October 10, which prohibited institute-level admissions. Both students, unable to secure seats through CAP rounds, secured admissions to the MBBS course at NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre in Nagpur through other quotas. However, PGMEB’s subsequent notice jeopardised their admissions, prompting them to approach the Nagpur bench of the high court.

Despite the court dismissing their petition, deeming the State CET cell’s decision as contrary to the law, it acknowledged the validity of communications issued by the PGMEB to the State CET cell and the medical colleges. The court also lifted an interim order issued on October 25, restraining authorities and the medical college from disrupting the petitioners’ admissions. This decision came after the State CET Cell decided to conduct an additional online stray vacancy round to fill remaining vacant seats in private medical colleges.