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Rishabh Choudhary v. Union of India & Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 677 of 2016)Decided 23 Jan 2017
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 677 of 2016
Justice Madan B. Lokur · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

A private medical college in Chhattisgarh ran its own management-quota admission test (CGMAT-2016) in April 2016 and admitted the petitioner to its MBBS course on 19 April 2016. This happened after the Supreme Court had, on 11 April 2016, recalled an earlier judgment and effectively restored NEET as the mandatory route for MBBS admissions, and outside the admission timetable the Medical Council of India and the Supreme Court had already approved. The State later directed the college to cancel these admissions, prompting the petitioner's writ petition.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the college's entrance exam and the petitioner's resulting counselling and admission were conducted in direct defiance of the prescribed schedule and of the Court's own orders restoring NEET as the sole gateway to MBBS admission. The Court found the real question was not whether anyone acted improperly in holding the exam, but whether the rule of law and the Court's own directions would be upheld, and held they must be. The petitioner's admission was therefore invalid regardless of his personal good faith, and the writ petitions (including a connected one from Chhattisgarh) were dismissed, while leaving the petitioner free to pursue a separate claim against the college and the State for misleading him.

Lesson Learnt

A student who obtains an admission that was granted outside an officially mandated process (such as skipping NEET when it was legally required) can lose that admission even if they acted in good faith: their remedy lies in holding the institution and authorities accountable, not in keeping an invalid seat.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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