Anitta Job & Ors. v. The State of Kerala & Ors.
Background
Ten students who had qualified in the NEET examination applied for MBBS admission at Malabar Medical College in Kerala but missed the online application deadline due to a website glitch, despite having obtained their fee demand drafts in time. After the Admission Supervisory Committee (ASC) allowed seven other similarly-placed complainants to be added to the eligible list, the College extended the same relief to the ten appellants and admitted them. Nearly nine months later, the ASC disapproved these admissions for not being on the original online list, and the Kerala High Court upheld that decision, prompting the students to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court found that the appellants had genuinely held valid demand drafts before the cut-off date, were admitted strictly on NEET merit, and that no higher-ranked candidate had ever complained of being denied a seat in their place, unlike the precedent relied on by the High Court (Rishabh Choudhary), where admissions bypassed NEET altogether. It held the College's extension of the same relief given to seven original complainants to similarly-placed students was not mala fide, especially since the University had already registered the appellants and the High Court itself had let them sit the First Year exam. Given this delay and the absence of any prejudiced higher-ranked candidate, the Court set aside both the ASC's and the High Court's orders and allowed the appeal, letting the admissions stand.
Lesson Learnt
Procedural admission deadlines matter, but when a genuine technical glitch prevented timely compliance, a student had proof of good-faith preparation (like a pre-deadline demand draft), was admitted strictly on true merit, and no other more-deserving candidate was displaced, courts will be reluctant to cancel admissions years later, especially after the student has already been studying and appearing for exams in reliance on that admission.