'Disputed Question Of Fact': Orissa HC Denies Plea By NEET-UG Candidate Who Missed Govt College Seat Due To 'Technical Glitch'

The Orissa High Court has recently denied relief to a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) under-graduate program 2022 candidate who lost chance to get admission into a government medical college due to a 'technical glitch' allegedly on the part of the Medical Counselling Committee.A Division Bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh–who demitted office last week–and Justice Savitri Ratho found the dispute to be factual in nature which could not have been entertained under Article 226 of the Constitution and thus said:“Apparently, there is a disputed question of fact as to whether it was because of the technical glitch that the petitioner could not participate in AIQ Mop-up Round of Counselling. We are not inclined to enter into such disputed question of fact in a proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for considering the petitioner's claim for award of compensation.”Case BackgroundThe petitioner had secured All-India Rank of 16,663, category rank of 7185 and All State Rank of 599 in NEET-UG, 2022. However, he was prevented from participating in the All-India Quota (AIQ)-Mop-up and Stray Vacancy Rounds of counselling due to a 'technical glitch' occasioned while giving preference of medical colleges. Thus, he filed this writ petition seeking a direction to grant a Government College MBBS seat, which would have certainly been granted had he not been prevented from participating in AIQ Mop-up Round and AIQ Stray Vacancy Round.Court's ObservationsThe Court noted that the AIQ Counselling was to be conducted in 4 online rounds, namely, AIQ Round 1, AIQ Round 2, AIQ Mop-up Round and AIQ Stray Vacancy Round. The petitioner was unsuccessful in the first and second rounds of Counselling.In the AIQ Mop-up Counselling Round, the petitioner contended, a technical glitch had occasioned on the web portal hosted by the Medical Counselling Committee, which prevented him from selecting and locking the desired choices of medical institutes. As a consequence, out of total 377 available medical institutes choices, the petitioner could select and lock '0' choice and thereby he stood disabled from participating in AIQ Mop-up Counselling Round as well as AIQ Stray Counselling Round.The Court considered the submission of the petitioner that candidates below his rank secured Government College seats based on AIQ Mop-up Counselling Round and because of non-registration by non-selection and locking of choices in the AIQ Mop-up Counselling Round, the petitioner stood debarred from participating in the AIQ Stray Counselling Round as well.To bolster his plea, the petitioner placed reliance upon S. Krishna Sradha v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ors wherein the Supreme Court had held that in exceptional cases, a direction can be issued to grant admission to meritorious candidates to MBBS Course even after cut-off date.However, the Court also took into account the counter filed by the Medical Counselling Committee taking a stand that there was no 'technical glitch' on its part and on the said scheduled date, more than 36,402 participating candidates had successfully filled and locked their choices.Therefore, the Bench was of the view that it is a disputed question of fact as to whether it was because of the technical glitch that the petitioner could not participate in AIQ Mop-up Round of Counselling. It deemed inappropriate to enter into such disputed factual conundrum while hearing a writ petition and accordingly, dismissed the same.Case Title: Aryan Swarup Parida v. Union of India & Ors.Case No: W.P.(C) No. 35926 of 2022Date of Judgment: January 15, 2025Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. A Tripathy, AdvocateCounsel for the Respondents: Mr. Biswajit Moharana, Central Govt. CounselCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Ori) 10Click Here To Read/Download Order

'Disputed Question Of Fact': Orissa HC Denies Plea By NEET-UG Candidate Who Missed Govt College Seat Due To 'Technical Glitch'

Jyoti Prakash Dutta

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