A bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru observed that the State Government’s notification (October 18, 2024), which sought to bring into play the admission of NRI quota students admitted to their respective medical colleges after September 24, 2024, was discriminatory and amounted to play with the future of the state. students.

“The impugned communication dated 18.10.2024 and the notice dated 18.10.2024 (Annex P/1 collectively to WPC No. 5322/2024) are 29 discriminatory because, on the one hand, they allow the continuation of studies for candidates who have been admitted before 24.09.2024 and candidates admitted after 24.09.2024, their admissions were put at stake, which amounts to playing with the future of the candidates which cannot be allowed», observed the division bench in canceled the contested opinion.

Case in brief

On October 18, the State government’s Department of Medical Education issued an order stating that admission to MBBS/BDS court under NRI quota taken before September 24, 2024 will remain intact.

On the other hand, the opinion indicated that admissions made after this date (September 24) will be examined, taking into account the order passed by the Supreme Court on September 24, 2024 and if candidates are found ineligible, their admission will be canceled.

To further explain this, the impugned notification stated that candidates admitted after September 24, 2024 and who are genuine NRIs, as defined by the Supreme Court, should have their documents reviewed. He added that if candidates who have secured admission under the NRI quota do not appear for document verification or are not genuine NRIs according to the definition of the Supreme Court, their admission will be canceled.

As is clear from the notification, this opinion has been issued in light of the supreme court order dismissing the challenge to the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s quashing of the Punjab government’s notification to expand the scope of NRI quota in medical admission. Interestingly, the said notice was issued despite the fact that the Supreme Court had not laid down any criteria as to who was a genuine NRI.

(For context, The Punjab government has expanded the meaning of NRI candidate, by including in its fold distant relatives of candidates such as uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins, and this inclusion was made after the deadline for submission of the application form. ‘admission. This state action was dismissed by Punjab and Haryana High Courtwho deemed it “unjustified” as it went against the original purpose of the NRI quota: to give genuine NRIs a chance to come and study in India. The appeal presented by the State before the Supreme Court was also rejected)

Today, challenging this order of the state medical education department, around 40+ students who secured admission under the NRI quota have filed separate petitions in the Chhattisgarh High Court.

They claimed to have passed NEET UG 2024 and applied for MBBS/BDS admission under the NRI quota. They registered and attended counseling sessions and got seats in colleges, and now their classes have also started. However, the state government’s notification would now harm their interests.

Their lawyer argued that the admission to NEET UG 2024 was done in strict accordance with the procedure and criteria prescribed under the Admission Rules 2018, Rule 13 of which prescribes the NRI quota criteria. Since the petitioners fulfilled the prescribed criteria, their admission in the respective colleges of their choice was approved.

In this context, it was contended that the 2018 Rules were not violated or deviated from during the admission of the petitioners. Thus, once the entire admission process is completed, any change (proposed by notice dated October 18, 2024) foreign to the existing regulations cannot prevail.

In short, the contention of the petitioners was that once qualified for NEET UG 2024 under the Admission Rules 2018, which remain in force to date, any deviation from these rules (sought by the impugned notice dated October 18 ) would make the admission process void and illegal.

The affirmation of the state

This is the case with the State Government as a whole since Clause II (e) of the amended provisions (which has been upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court is the same as that of Article 13 ( l) (1) of the Admission Rules, 2018 (under which admissions were granted to distant relatives of NRIs in the State of Chhattisgarh), therefore, once the P&H High Court is upheld by the Supreme Court, it must be applied throughout the country.

It was further submitted that by issuing the impugned notice, the State attempted to grant admission only to those candidates who are the genuine descendants of NRIs and not to those to whom the benefit had been granted earlier, as provided in Rule 13(l)(1) of the Admission Rules, 2018.

Finally, it was argued that in view of Article 141 of the Constitution of India, the dismissal of the SLP amounts to an affirmation of the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and would constitute a binding precedent for the the whole country; hence the state medical education department has issued such an advisory.

High Court observations

Firstly, the Court noted that admissions to medical colleges under NEET UG 2024 in the State as per the Admission Rules 2018 and unless and until there has been a violation or any deviation from the said rules, which exists while granting the admission of the applicants and any change in the admission process after the completion of the full admission which is extraneous to the existing rules cannot be allowed to prevail.

The Court also considered the question whether the State can make a distinction between candidates who were admitted under the NRI quota before September 24, 2024 and after September 24, 2024, in the light of the order passed by the Supreme Court on the said date and whether the judgment passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court can be made applicable in the State of Chhattisgarh simply on the grounds that an SLP preferred to this one was rejected by the Supreme Court?

To answer the question, the Court observed that the above has no bearing on the Admission Rules 2018. The Supreme Court has also not laid down any ratio or defined who should be treated as NRI and who can be admitted under NRI quota. in medical faculties.

Therefore, the Court declared that the Admission Rules, 2018 are still valid in the State of Chhattisgarh as they have neither been amended, canceled or modified.

“There is no disagreement regarding the ratio established by the Supreme Court in a chain of decision that the rule of the game cannot be changed after its entry into force. The petitioners had appeared for the NEET UG 2024 examination and secured their position as qualified candidates. At the time of their admission, the 2018 admission regulations were in force and still remain as they are. Therefore, the case of the petitioners would be governed by the Admission Rules 2018 and there cannot be any deviation from the same.», observed the Court.

The Court also added that the State cannot discriminate against candidates fulfilling the same qualification/eligibility criteria merely on the basis of passing of a judgment by another High Court in which other rules/provisions for admission were contested, and the Supreme Court rejected the request for special leave. against the said judgment, in limine and not on the merits.

“Equal candidates cannot be measured on two different criteria based on the cut-off date i.e. 24.09.2024. She is struck by the principles of intelligible differentiation. The definition of NRI was considered differently for both groups of candidates, i.e. candidates who were admitted before 24.09.2024 were considered differently from candidates who were admitted after admission before 24.09.2024. 09.24.2024 and after 09.24.2024. The application of these two different criteria is arbitrary and illegal“, the Court said in setting aside the impugned notice.

The Court held that safe from an order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the confession which has already been granted to the petitioners cannot be withdrawn.

“The judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in CWP Case No. 20788/2024 has no binding effect on the State of Chhattisgarh as the dismissal of the SLP against the said order by the Supreme Court does not was only a dismissal in limine and not on the merits. Even otherwise, no law has been passed and no ordinance has been passed as to who should be admitted under the NRI quota.“, declared the Court, allowing written requests.