BDS Admission Given To Student Who Failed Class 12 Subject Cancelled After One Year; Rajasthan HC Asks NEET Counselling Board, College To Pay Rs 10 Lakh Compensation Each

In a pertinent judgement, Rajasthan High Court has held the NEET Counselling Board and a Dental College guilty of serious lapses in thoroughly examining the School Certificate produced by the candidate at the time of provisional allotment and admission. The single-judge bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Gaur was considering the writ petition of a BDS student who was denied enrollment by Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, almost a year after his admission, when it was found out that he had failed in the subject of Chemistry in Senior School Examination. The court, in its judgement, while holding the petitioner not eligible in the first place to have appeared in NEET UG 2019 Exams or to avail the option of continuing his course from hereon, made the following directions to the respondents: "This Court, in the present facts of the case, deems it proper to issue direction to pay a compensation of Rs.10,00,000/- (Rs. Ten Lakhs only) to the petitioner by NEET Counselling Board and further the respondent - Darshan Dental Medical College And Hospital, Udaipur will also pay Rs.10,00,000/- (Rs.Ten Lakhs only) to the petitioner." The court took into consideration the expenses incurred inclusive of fees already paid for the course, and impact of the loss of an academic year for the petitioner student due to the negligence of respondent authorities while deciding the quantum of compensation. Facts The petitioner appeared for the NEET UG 2019 exams and underwent the Counselling process after the Merit List was published. He was subsequently given provisional allotment to Darshan Dental Medical College and Hospital in July 2019. After allotment, he paid the requisite fees and submitted the mandatory documents including the Senior Secondary Certificate. Prior to the first-year exam in August 2020, he received a letter from the University pointing out his ineligibility to be enrolled, citing his failure in the Chemistry Paper of the CBSE Board Exams as the reason. Submissions Made By Counsels Petitioner Student's Counsel Advocate Chandrabhan Sharma, for the petitioner, argued before the court that as per the CBSE mark sheet, his result has been shown as 'Pass'. The petitioner also acknowledged that, against Chemistry, it has been marked as 'Fail In Theory'. However, it was the contention of the petitioner that the minimum passing marks for all subjects are 33 and he had obtained more than that for all subjects including Chemistry. Reference was also made by the petitioner to the NEET-UG, Medical & Dental Counselling Board's Information Booklet which specifies the eligibility criteria for applicants. It was the interpretation of the petitioner that the booklet does not specify pass marks in both theory and practical constituents of a subject if the result has been declared as 'Pass'. According to the petitioner, the only requirement was 40% aggregate marks in all the subjects and securing individual pass marks for the same. Petitioner's counsel further argued that the denial of enrolment was unjustified since the petitioner has completed one year at the College and the current situation has not been an after effect of the petitioner misleading the authorities. Counsels For Rajasthan University of Health Sciences And CBSE Advocate Ravi Chirania for the respondent University alleged a 'human error' from the part of CBSE in issuing the mark sheet and serious lapses from the part of NEET Examination Authority and Counselling Board in verifying the documents. Mere declaration in the mark sheet as 'Pass' won't bestow eligibility upon the petitioner unless he has passed both the theory and practical aspects of the subject. Both the Respondent University and the CBSE drew the attention of Court to Clause 40.1 (ii) of CBSE Bye-Laws which states that if a subject involves practical work, the student must obtain 33 per cent in practical and theory separately, so as to have 33 per cent marks jointly, to pass each subject. It was the contention of the Counsel For CBSE, Advocate MS Raghav, that the petitioner had opted for five subjects and one additional subject as per Clause 43 of Bye-Laws, hence he was declared as 'Pass' on the basis of those five subjects even when his positional grade for Chemistry was 'E'. He denied any kind of 'human error' on the part of CBSE. Counsels For NEET Counselling Board & Dental College NEET Counselling Board, in turn, with respect to the issue of document verification, submitted that it was the responsibility of the allotted/admitting college to check the original documents and the documents pertaining to the eligibility of the candidate, inclusive of the 12th Standard Marksheet. After examining if a student has passed in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and English subjects individually and had secured 40% marks as per the booklet, the concerned college was expected to report to the...

BDS Admission Given To Student Who Failed Class 12 Subject Cancelled After One Year; Rajasthan HC Asks NEET Counselling Board, College To Pay Rs 10 Lakh Compensation Each

Sebin James

"Minimum educational qualification was to be ensured by all the Authorities and only after verification of such fact that the admission processes should have been undertaken."

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