LexSTATE OF U.P. & ANOTHER versus MISS BHAVNA TIWARI & ORS.
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[2025] 4 S.C.R. 2687 : 2025 INSC 747 State of U.P. & Another v. Miss Bhavna Tiwari & Ors. (Special Leave Petition (C) No. 9298 of 2018) 29 April 2025 [J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, JJ.] Issue for Consideration Streamlining of the counselling process in NEET-PG; curbing the malpractice of seat blocking to ensure transparency and fairness in the admission process; compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- awarded by the High Court to the respondents for seat blocking in NEET- PG counselling, if was justified. Headnotes† Education/Educational Courses – Post Graduate Medical Courses – Admission process – NEET PG counselling – Malpractice of seat blocking – Prevention of – Need for transparency and fairness – Directions issued to the concerned authorities to ensure effective implementation of the revised counselling framework: Held: Implementation of a Nationally synchronized counselling calendar to align All India Quota (AIQ ) and State rounds and prevent seat blocking across systems – Pre-Counselling Fee Disclosure by all private/deemed universities, detailing tuition, hostel, caution deposit, and miscellaneous charges to be mandatory – Establishment of a Centralized Fee Regulation Framework under the National Medical Commission (NMC) – Permitting upgrade windows post-round 2 for admitted candidates to shift to better seats without reopening counselling to new entrants – Publication of raw scores, answer keys and normalization formulae for transparency in multi-shift NEET-PG exams – Enforcement of strict penalties for seat blocking including forfeiture of security deposit, disqualification from future NEET-PG exams (for repeat offenders), blacklisting of complicit colleges – Implementation of Aadhaar-based seat tracking to prevent multiple seat holdings and misrepresentation – State authorities and institutional DMEs to be held accountable under contempt or disciplinary action for rule or schedule violations – Uniform Counselling Conduct Code to be 2688 [2025] 4 S.C.R. Supreme Court Reports adopted across all States for standard rules on eligibility, mop-up rounds, seat withdrawal, and grievance timelines – A third-party oversight mechanism to be set up under NMC for annual audits of counselling data, compliance, and admission fairness. [Para 16] Education/Educational Courses – Post Graduate medical courses – Admission process – NEET PG counselling – Respondent Nos.1, 2 (aspirants in the first NEET-PG) filed writ petitions alleging large-scale seat blocking, stating that nearly 80% of the seats were filled during the mop-up round resulting in the seats of their first preference being eventually allotted to less meritorious candidates – High Court issued specific directions to the Government authorities and also directed payment of compensation to the Respondents for seat blocking – Challenge to: Held: Various reforms introduced by the authorities address the concerns raised by the High Court in the impugned order ensuring that meritorious students are not deprived of their rightful opportunities, impugned order not interfered with in entirety – Directions issued by this Court to ensure the effective implementation of the revised counselling framework upholding the principles of merit, fairness and transparency – However, on facts, no valuable right was denied to the respondents regarding participation in the mop-up round and once admission was granted, the process concluded unless specific exceptions applied as per the admission guidelines – Award of Rs.10,00,000/- each as compensation is arbitrary and excessive – Rs.1,00,000/- awarded each to Respondent Nos.1 and 2 – Impugned order modified. [Paras 14.4, 15.3, 15.4] Education/Educational Courses – Post Graduate Medical Courses – Admission process – NEET PG counselling – Malpractice of seat blocking – Discussed. [Paras 7, 8] Case Law Cited Sharwan Kumar v. DGHS and Others (1993) 3 SCC 332; Ashish Ranjan v. Union of India (2016) 11 SCC 225; Modern Dental College and Research Centre v. State of Madhya Pradesh [2016] 3 SCR 579 : (2016) 7 SCC 353; Christian Medical College Vellore Association v. Medical Council of India, Order of Supreme Court dated 03.05.2017 in WP(C) No. 261 of 2017; Education Promotion [2025] 4 S.C.R. 2689 State of U.P. & Another v. Miss Bhavna Tiwari & Ors. Society of India v. Union of India, Order of Supreme Court dated 04.05.2017 in WP(C) No. 244 of 2017; Nihila P.P. v. the Medical Counselling
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