MP High Court Issues Notice On NEET-UG Students' Plea For Refund Of ₹10 Lakh Each Forfeited After Seat Cancellation

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday (October 6) issued notice on a petition by certain 2024 NEET-UG medical aspirants seeking refund of ₹10 Lakh each deposited by them during counselling, after applying for cancellation of seats allotted by private college. The plea also challenges the vires of Rule 12(7)(ga) of the Madhya Pradesh Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Determination of Fees) Act, 2007–amended in 2018, under which Rs. 10 Lakh deposited by the petitioners was forfeited. The plea states that as per the Rule, Rs.10 Lakh is to be deposited if the students participated in the first round of counselling and seat is allotted to them, and then he/she becomes eligible for the next rounds of counselling which are–second round, mop-up round of counselling and stray vacancy counselling. This means that three levels of counselling remains for the students to "change the seats or upgrade" themselves.The plea claims that Rule 12(7)(ga) of Adhiniyam is being misrepresented and was applicable only if a candidate leaves the seat in the last round of counselling process and the seat remains vacant for those particular counselling sessions. It claims that under no stretch of imagination, the Rule of confiscation/forfeiture of Rs.10 Lakhs can be made applicable where the candidate informs in writing to the Director Medical Education (DME) as well as to the College that he/she is leaving the seat and the seat can be allotted to any other candidate.Issuing notice on the plea the division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Dwarka Dhish Bansal listed the matter on November 4. According to the petition, the petitioners sat for the 2024 NEET-UG examination and after securing high ranks were allotted seats in RKDF Medical College, Bhopal, under the Unreserved(UR)/NRI quota by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) on September 15, 2024 after first round of counselling. Per the rules, each candidate was required to deposit ₹10 lakhs immediately upon allotment. The petitioners made the payment on the same day. Thereafter, when the petitioners received admission in a college in Maharashtra, they decided to cancel their allotted seats at RKDF Medical College, as they belong to Maharashtra.They informed both the Director of Medical Education and Dean of RKDF Medical College, through written communication October 1, 2024, well before the closure of the second round of counselling on October 5, 2024. Despite this, the DME issued an order dated October 30, 2024, declaring that the ₹10 lakhs deposited by each of the petitioners stood confiscated under Rule 12(7)(ga). The petitioners later submitted a representation dated January 7, 2025, seeking a refund of the forfeited amount, but no response was received from the authorities.The plea states that by incorrectly interpreting the Rule 12(7)(Ga), Rs.10 Lakhs is being confiscated and petitioners are running from pillar to post to get their refund. Case Title: Tejas Ravish Agrawal v State of MP (WP 35132/2025)For Petitioners: Senior Advocate Aditya Sanghi with Advocates Poonam Sonkar, Prakhar Naveriya and Alka Singh

MP High Court Issues Notice On NEET-UG Students' Plea For Refund Of ₹10 Lakh Each Forfeited After Seat Cancellation

Jayanti Pahwa

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