Resolving Split Verdict, Delhi High Court Says Courts Can't Ordinarily Direct De-Reservation Of Reserved Medical Seats After Counselling

The Delhi High Court has observed that while vacant medical seats may amount to wastage of resources, courts cannot direct de-reservation of a reserved seat after the counselling process is over. [2026 LiveLaw (Del) 708]

Answering a reference arising out of a split verdict, Justice Dinesh Mehta held that once the seat matrix is declared and candidates exercise their choices, directing de-reservation of a reserved seat and allotting it to an unreserved candidate cannot be ordered.

The Court reasoned that if a reserved seat is subsequently opened to the general category, candidates with higher merit may have already accepted admission elsewhere or chosen different career options.

It added that the authorities cannot be directed to undertake a course of action likely to bring inequality or lead to iniquitous results.

“If the vacant seat is subsequently de-reserved and offered to general category candidate, then situation may arise that more meritorious candidate, by that time, might have opted for and/or taken admission in any other college or decided to pursue some other career option and hence, subsequent observation would hardly serve the purpose or will hardly come to the aid of those candidates who have applied against the slot(s) meant for reserved category candidate(s),” the Court said.

The Court was deciding a reference on the question was to whether a Single Judge was justified in directing the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) to de-reserve an OBC seat in the DNB (Post Diploma) Radiodiagnosis course at General Hospital, Panchkula, and make it available to unreserved candidates.

Dr. Aditi Panwar, an unreserved category candidate, had secured Rank 142 in the DNB-PDCET 2025 examination. She had sought admission to the Panchkula hospital, where the sole Radiodiagnosis seat was reserved for OBC candidates.

Since no OBC candidate qualified for the course, the seat remained vacant. The Single Judge allowed her plea seeking de-reservation of the seat in question but the matter was referred to a third judge after a split verdict in appeal.

Ruling in favour of NBEMS, Justice Mehta held that an unreserved candidate could not claim admission against a seat specifically earmarked for a reserved category.

The Court also noted that more than a year had elapsed since the 2025 admission session and to direct the candidate's admission at such belated stage would require her training period to be reckoned entirely afresh and would be delinked from the session for which the seat was notified.

“Such consideration in this court's view bears materially on whether implementing the direction at this stage would serve any purpose and whether she would be able to fulfill the attendance criteria and what will happen to the fate of the candidate who has or who is supposed to get admission for session 2026?,” the judge said.

Answering the question in negative, the Court clarified that its decision cannot be laid down as an absolute rule that the Court cannot give a direction to de-reserve the unfilled seats.

“Though in the instant case, the minutes of the 15th meeting of the Accreditation Committee dated 09.08.2024 hardly leave any scope for seats remaining vacant but since there was a huge gap between the examination of DNB (Post Diploma Course) and DNB (Post MBBS Course), it was incumbent upon the NBEMS to publish a fresh seat matrix immediately, when they found that no OBC candidate was able to clear the examination in Radio-Diagnosis,” the Court said.

Justice Mehta thus directed NBEMS to henceforth ensure that if a candidate of any reserved category is not declared successful in any branch or lesser number of candidates than the seats reserved clear the exam, then, such seats shall be got de-reserved after taking requisite approval from the concerned State and the same shall be filled by open category candidate.

“A prior or in principle decision in this regard at appropriate level be taken well in advance, so as to ensure that seats do not remain unfilled/vacant and aspiring candidates, who are willing to take admission can pursue their future studies in the institution of their choice. But once, the seat matrix has been declared and candidates have filled in their options, no direction can be given by the Court to de-reserve the seat(s),” the Court held.

Title: NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATIONS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES v. DR. ADITI PANWAR AND OTHERS

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Del) 708

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