DR. ASTHA GOEL AND ORS. versus THE MEDICAL COUNSELLING COMMITTEE & ORS.

Citation: [2022] 7 S.C.R. 1078 · Decided: 10-06-2022 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: M.R. SHAH · Disposal: Dismissed
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Judgment (excerpt)

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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 7 S.C.R.
   [2022] 7 S.C.R. 1078
1078
DR. ASTHA GOEL AND ORS.
v.
THE MEDICAL COUNSELLING COMMITTEE & ORS.
(Writ Petition (C) No. 409 of 2022)
JUNE 10, 2022
[M. R. SHAH AND ANIRUDDHA BOSE, JJ.]
Education/Educational Institutions: Medical admission –
NEET-PG-2022 –Conduct of Special Stray Round of counselling
with respect to vacant seats – Entitlement to – Modified scheme of
counselling for Academic Year 2021-2022 whereby, four rounds of
counselling undertaken for All India Quota seats as well as States’
Quotas each-in all eight rounds of counselling – After completion,
out of 40,000 seats, 1456 seats remained vacant wherein more than
1100 seats are non-clinical seats and the remaining are the clinical
seats, all with respect to the private institutions – Petitioners claiming
admission on the remaining vacant seats– Direction sought to the
respondents to conduct a Special Stray Round of counselling –Held:
Students cannot seek admission on those seats remaining vacant
after approximately one year of academic session and after eight
or nine rounds of counselling–When the Medical Counselling
Committee and the Union of India have to adhere to the time schedule
for completing the admission process and ever after conducting
eight to nine rounds of counselling, still some seats have remained
vacant, a conscious decision taken by the Union Government/the
Medical Counselling Committee, not to conduct a further Special
Stray Round of counselling, cannot said to be arbitrary– Decision
of, not to have Special Stray Round of counselling is in the interest
of Medical Education and Public Health – There cannot be any
compromise with the merits and/or quality of Medical Education,
which may ultimately affect the Public Health– Process of admission
and that too in the medical education cannot be endless– Time
schedule has to be strictly adhered to – Furthermore, after closure
of the last round of counselling, the entire software mechanism has
been closed and the security deposit is refunded to the eligible
candidates, if one additional Special Stray Round of counselling is
conducted now, it may affect the admission process for NEET-PG-
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2022 – In view thereof, the petitioners not entitled to the relief of
conducting a Special Stray Round of counselling for filling up the
remaining vacant seats of NEET-PG-2021.
Education Promotion Society for India and Anr. v. Union
of India and Ors.(2019) 7 SCC 38 : [2019] 8 SCR 794;
Supreet Batra and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors.
(2003) 3 SCC 370 : [2003] 1 SCR 586 – referred to.
Case Law Reference
[2019] 8 SCR 794
referred to
Para 8.2
[2003] 1 SCR 586
referred to
Para 8.3
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (C) No.409 of
2022.
(Under Article 32 Of The Constitution Of India)
With
Writ Petition (C) Nos.393, 10395 And 10539 of 2022.
Ms. Rachana Shrivastava, A. D. N. Rao, Sr. Advs., Kunal Cheema,
Ms. Aditi Deshpande Parkhi, Milind Kumar, Dr. Charu Mathur, Ms.
Tanvi, Sanjay Kumar Dubey, Avijit Mani Tripathi, Annam Venkatesh, D.
Shiva Shankar, Advs. for the Appellants.
Balbir Singh, ASG, Shyam Gopal, Samarvir Singh, Naman Tandon,
K. Gurumurthy, Prahlad Singh, G. S. Makker, Gaurav Sharma, Prateek
Bhatia, Dhawal Mohan, Kirtiman Singh, Ms. Manmeet Kaur Sareen,
Advs. for the Respondents.
The Order of the Court was passed by
M. R. SHAH, J.
1. As common question of law and facts arise in this group of writ
petitions/special leave petitions, they are being disposed of by this common
order.
2. For the sake of convenience, Writ Petition (C) No.409 of 2022-
Dr. Astha Goel and Ors. Vs. The Medical Counselling Committee &
Ors. is treated as the lead matter. By way of this writ petition being Writ
Petition No. 409 of 2022 under Article 32 of the Constitution of India,
the seven petitioners have prayed for the following reliefs:-
DR. ASTHA GOEL AND ORS. v. THE MEDICAL
COUNSELLING COMMITTEE & ORS.
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 7 S.C.R.
“a)
Issue an Appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, in the nature
of a Writ of Mandamus, under Article 32 of the Constitution
to direct Respondent No. 1 to provide the exact number of
vacant seats after the conduct of stray vacancy round of
AIQ;
b)
Issue an Appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, in the nature
of a Writ of Mandamus, under Article 32 of the Constitution
to direct Respondent No. 1 to conduct a Special Stray Round
of counselling to allow the candidates to participate for the
vacan
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