Summary
After two rounds of NEET-UG 2021-22 counselling exhausted the NRI rank list, 57 of 358 NRI-quota seats in private medical colleges remained vacant; the colleges' association sought time for fresh NRI registrations, but the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations refused and converted 45 vacant NRI seats to State merit seats. The Kerala High Court upheld this under clause 5.5.4 of the Prospectus, treating the NRI quota as a 'special reservation'. The Supreme Court dismissed NRI aspirants' appeals: the High Court's reading of clause 5.5.4 was erroneous, but the conversion followed the Medical Counselling Committee's unchallenged Information Bulletin, only four appellants had registered NRI options and none for the converted seats, and the larger question whether vacant NRI seats in unaided colleges can be transferred to the State is pending before a Constitution Bench.
Issues
- Whether vacant NRI-quota seats in unaided private medical colleges in Kerala could be transferred to the State merit quota under clause 5.5.4 of the Prospectus on the footing that the NRI quota is a 'special reservation'.
- Whether candidates who neither challenged the Information Bulletin providing for conversion of vacant NRI seats during the mop-up round nor exercised options for those seats can obtain relief against the conversion, and whether refusal of further time for fresh NRI registrations was arbitrary.
Provisions considered
- Clauses 2.2, 4.1.4, 4.1.5 and 5.5.4, Prospectus for Admission to Professional Degree Courses, Kerala 2021 (KEAM)'Special reservation' under clause 4.1.4 covers the categories listed in clause 5.2 (ex-servicemen, defence dependants, Jewish quota, course-specific quotas) and does not include the NRI quota, which chapter 4 does not list as a reservation and which clause 2.2 says is to be notified separately; even if it did, clause 5.5.4 transfers unavailed seats only to the 'mandatory reservation' quota (SEBC and EWS), not to State merit. The High Court's reasoning was therefore erroneous. (¶¶ 8, 9, 10)
- Chapter 3 — NRI conversion and conversion algorithm, Medical Counselling Committee Information Bulletin and Counselling Scheme 2021The Bulletin provides that NRI seats remaining vacant during the mop-up round are converted to unreserved seats after eligible NRI candidates are exhausted; the Commissioner merely complied with it, and as the appellants did not challenge the Bulletin the legality of the conversion could not be decided in these proceedings. (¶¶ 7, 11, 19)
Held
- The NRI quota is not a 'special reservation' within clause 5.5.4 of the Prospectus, and in any event that clause permits transfer only to the mandatory reservation quota, so the High Court erred in holding that the Commissioner could transfer vacant NRI seats to State merit under it. (¶¶ 9, 10)
- The Constitution Bench and three-Judge Bench in T.M.A. Pai Foundation held that unfilled NRI seats may be filled by the management at its discretion in order of merit, and Modern Dental College and Research Centre (2012) held R.D. Gardi Medical College's view that unfilled NRI seats go to the general pool contrary to Pai Foundation and Inamdar; but those observations concerned a particular academic year, the principal issue of transfer of unfilled NRI seats in unaided institutions to the State is pending before a Constitution Bench, and Pai Foundation and Inamdar must now be read with Article 15(5). (¶¶ 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
- Only 7 of the 37 appellants figured in the NRI list, only 4 had registered options for NRI seats and none for the 45 seats later converted; the writ petition below sought only an extension of time for submitting NRI documents, which the Commissioner refused after repeated extensions, and the appellants have not shown that refusal to be mala fide or arbitrary. The respondents having merely followed the unchallenged Information Bulletin, no relief can be granted. (¶¶ 16, 18, 19)
Result
Appeals dismissed; the Kerala High Court's judgment of 08.04.2022 in W.A. No. 485 of 2022 declining further time for fresh NRI-quota registrations and the conversion of 45 vacant NRI seats to State merit seats left undisturbed, though the High Court's reasoning under clause 5.5.4 of the Prospectus is held erroneous and the question of transferring vacant NRI seats to the State is left to the pending Constitution Bench reference.