Calcutta High Court Directs Urgent Decision On NEET Aspirant's EWS Certificate, Says Mother's Voter List Deletion Not Relevant
The Calcutta High Court has directed the authorities to urgently consider the request of a NEET-UG 2026 aspirant seeking an Economically Weaker Section (EWS) certificate, making it clear that the deletion of his mother's name from the voter list due to a discrepancy in her name cannot be taken into consideration while deciding his eligibility.
Justice Krishna Rao passed the direction while hearing a writ petition filed by Priyangshu Mukherjee, who sought issuance of an EWS certificate to enable him to participate in counselling for an MBBS seat in West Bengal. The petitioner's document verification for MBBS seat allotment was scheduled for August 18, 2026, prompting the Court to treat the matter as urgent.
The petitioner had secured 471 marks out of 720 in NEET-UG 2026, with an All India Rank of 1,32,304 and a General-EWS Rank of 16,401.
The petitioner's father, Prasanta Mukherjee, died in 2008 and his name appeared in the 2002 Electoral Roll. A discrepancy existed in the name of the petitioner's mother. Before marriage, she was known as Kakali Mukherjee, while after marriage she changed her name to Rekah Mukherjee.
The Court was informed that due to this discrepancy, the mother's name was deleted from the voter list during the SIR. However, the petitioner's own name remained on the voter list, and he had also cast his vote in the April 2026 Assembly election.
The petitioner submitted that despite making several representations to the authorities, his request for an EWS certificate had not been decided. He argued that the delay would prevent him from appearing for document verification and could consequently deprive him of an MBBS seat despite his NEET performance.
Noting that the document verification was scheduled for the following day, the Court observed:
"This Court finds that there is an urgency as August 18, 2026 that is tomorrow is the date for verification of the documents of the petitioner for allotment of the seat of MBBS in any college in the State of West Bengal."
The Court accordingly directed the Additional District Magistrate, North 24 Parganas, to immediately consider the petitioner's request for issuance of an EWS certificate and pass an appropriate order.
It directed that if the petitioner was eligible, the certificate could be issued "as early as possible by latest today at 5.00 p.m." If he was found ineligible, the authority was directed to assign reasons.
The Court specifically directed: "It is made clear that the authority shall not take into consideration of deletion of name of the mother from the voter list."
The petitioner was permitted to communicate the gist of the order to the concerned authority, which was directed to act in accordance with the same.
The Court clarified that the order was being passed only in view of the urgency arising from the August 18 document-verification deadline. The matter has been listed for further hearing on September 16, 2026.