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Zaid Sheikh v. The State of Madhya Pradesh Through Secretary

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 353Decided 18 Mar 2025
C.A. No.-003847-003848 - 2025 (arising from S.L.P.(C) Nos. 4361-4362 of 2019)
Justice Sanjay Kumar · Justice Augustine George Masih

Background

The appellant was admitted to a B.A.M.S. (Ayurvedic medicine) degree course in 2008 even though he had not passed English as a subject in his 10+2 exams, a required eligibility condition. When his college was de-recognised and its students transferred to another college in 2012, he was denied the transfer on the ground that he was never validly eligible in the first place, even though the new college's own allotment letter had conditionally admitted him, provided he passed English by Class 12. He challenged this denial in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which let him continue attending classes under interim orders while the case was pending but ultimately dismissed his petition and review plea in 2014, by which time he had nearly completed the entire six-year course and part of his internship.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court noted that the appellant had, in the meantime, retaken and passed his 12th-class English exam (in fact, twice over, through two different boards), exactly as the college's own conditional admission letter had allowed, effectively curing the defect that had made him ineligible. Applying the principle that "an act of the court should not prejudice anyone" (actus curiae neminem gravabit), it held that it would be unjust to let years of good-faith study, undertaken under the protection of the court's own interim orders, be wiped out over a technical eligibility issue that was later fixed. It allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court's orders, and directed that the appellant be permitted to complete his course and internship and receive his degree.

Lesson Learnt

Where a person has genuinely completed most of a course of study while relying in good faith on interim court orders, courts can grant equitable relief rather than let a technical, later-cured eligibility defect destroy years of real academic effort.

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

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