Summary
The Court declined to lower the qualifying percentile for NEET Super Specialty admissions for 2021-22. The considered decision to preserve standards was an academic-policy choice supported by relevant reasons, despite vacant seats. The petition was disposed of on the Union’s assurance that mop-up counselling, including stray vacancies, would proceed while retaining the fiftieth-percentile eligibility threshold.
Issues
- Whether vacancies and earlier relaxations required reduction of the Super Specialty qualifying percentile.
- Whether further counselling should be held without changing eligibility.
Provisions considered
- Minimum qualifying percentile and proviso permitting relaxation, Post-Graduate Medical Education admission notification dated 5 April 2018Considered the discretionary relaxation power and declined to override the reasoned decision not to lower eligibility for the academic year concerned. (¶¶ 2, 3, 7-9)
Held
- Whether to lower the percentile was academic policy. The authorities had considered the position and relied on maintaining standards at the Super Specialty level, with an adequate pool of eligible candidates. Those reasons were neither extraneous nor arbitrary; vacant seats alone did not compel relaxation. (¶¶ 6, 7, 9)
- Super Specialty courses could not simply be equated with postgraduate or undergraduate admissions. Harshit Agarwal’s BDS relaxation arose from materially different circumstances, including the regulator’s recommendation and defects in the decision considered there; it did not mandate the requested reduction here. (¶¶ 8, 9)
- The Union stated that a mop-up round, including stray vacancies, would be conducted for the remaining seats while maintaining eligibility at the fiftieth percentile for 2021-22. The Court disposed of the petition on those terms rather than directing dilution of the threshold. (¶¶ 10, 11)
Result
Writ petition disposed of: reduction of the percentile declined; mop-up counselling including stray vacancies to proceed as assured, retaining the fiftieth-percentile threshold. Pending applications disposed of.