Supreme Court petition seeks a seat-to-candidate ratio of 1:5 in counselling in NEET-PG

A writ case has been filed in the Supreme Court, requesting that the Medical Counselling Committee adopt the 1:5 seat-to-candidate ratio prescribed by the Supreme Court in the Anand S Biji versus State of Kerala ruling.

The appeal cites Anand S Biji v. State of Kerala 2012 13 SCC 713, which states that “a total of 5 times the number of seats available for allotment, or all qualified candidates, whichever is fewer, will be given a chance to engage in online counselling (allotment procedure).”

It has been stated that the Centre has violated the condition set in Anand S Biji’s case because the NEET PG 2021 information bulletin does not specify the number of students to be invited for counselling.

The petitioners claim that by violating the criterion, the Centre has made the already competitive unreserved category much more competitive.

“It is funny to notice that, on the one hand, the Centre is flouting directions of the Supreme Court while, on the other hand, they are subjecting exam results to the Court’s judgements/orders,” the plea adds.

While claiming that the Centre followed the conditions outlined in Anand S Biji v State of Kerala until 2017, the petitioners claim that the respondents are “deceitfully” relying on the Supreme Court’s order dated May 9, 2017 in Dar Us Salam Educational Trust and Others v MCI to justify the exclusion of the seats.

The petitioners have also contended that the Dar Us Salam issue is about minorities’ rights in educational institutions and deemed universities and has nothing to do with the filter of ratio of candidates summoned for counselling as ordered and defined by the Supreme Court in Anand S Biji’s case.

The case has been scheduled for tomorrow before a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna.

Dubey Law Associates is representing the petitioners, and the petition was filed through Advocate on Record Charu Mathur.