New Delhi: The Supreme Court directed a medical college in Telangana to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakhs and allot a seat in Post Graduate (General Surgery) seat to an aspirant after she was denied a seat in the college.
The aspirant, Mothukuru Sriyah Koumudi, has cleared NEET examination for admission into PG course and she was called for counselling in which she was given provisional admission to the MS (General Surgery) course allotted at Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad under Management Quota.
The candidate was required to appear before the Principal of the college by 4 pm on July 30, 2020. Under these circumstances, the last date for admission into PG Medical courses was extended till August 30, 2020 as directed by the Supreme Court.
Koumudi has made an attempt to meet the chairman of the college on August 7, 2020 but she was not permitted. Aggrieved, she approached Telangana High Court for relief and the high court allowed the writ petition directing the National Medical Commission/Medical Council of India to create or sanction one MS (General Surgery) seat.
The court also directed Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad to grant admission to her in MS (General Surgery) course.
But the National Medical Commission approached the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order since the latter has directed the commission to create a seat for granting admission to Koumudi in this academic year.
At the apex court, the bench comprising Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Hemant Gupta, in its hearing of the case observed that there is no fault on the candidate as the candidate has pursued his/her legal right expeditiously without any delay and the fault is only on the part of authorities and there is an apparent breach of rules and regulations as well as related principles in the process of granting admission.
The court also observed that the last date of admission into the course was August 30, 2020 and it was not inclined to grant admission to the aggrieved candidate for this academic year by cancelling admission granted to another candidate. Disapproving the practice of college picking students for admission without following the merit list, the court directed the college to pay the compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the student as compensation for the lost academic year.
The compensation has to be paid in a period of four weeks and the candidate is also entitled to the admission in the next academic year 2020 - 21. One seat of MS (General Surgery) from the Management Quota of Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad shall be given to Koumudi, the court ruled disposing of the petition.
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