NEET-UG : Supreme Court Grants Relief To TN Students Who Lost MBBS Seats After Missing Fee Payment Deadline

The Supreme Court today (December 5) granted relief to three NEET-UG candidates from Tamil Nadu who had lost their MBBS seats after failing to complete the fee payment within the stipulated time owing to technical glitches.

A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice AS Chandurkar permitted the students to make the payment by Wednesday (December 10), thereby restoring their chance to secure admission. Initially, the bench was not convinced and it stated that if the relief is allowed primarily because of financial difficulties, it would open Pandora's box. However, after the Court was informed that there was also the fact that the late date of payment fell on a holiday, noting the peculiar circumstances of the case, the bench clarified that the order shall not be treated as a precedent for future matters.

The Court directed the State to allot the candidates seats from the available vacant management quota seats, ensuring they are not deprived of admission due to circumstances beyond their control.

One of the petitioners, Vicksh, had approached the Supreme Court on grounds that the last date of payment fell on a bank holiday and therefore, the payment could not be completed.

While the other two petitioners couldn't complete payment due to financial difficulties. One of the petitioners, Shilpa Suresh, had challenged the Madras High Court's order, which refused her relief. According to the candidate, she could not make the payment due to financial difficulties.

Initially, a single bench of the Madras High Court granted relief to the girl, directing that she be given admission. Justice Anand Venkatesh noted that the candidate had secured a high score in NEET-UG. However, the next day, a division bench of the High Court set aside the single bench's order.

The student had appeared for the NEET UG 2025-26 exam and obtained a score of 251. She was allotted a seat in Madha Medical College and Research Institute in the third allotment on November 3, 2025. As per the notification, after the publication of the results, the candidates had to download the allotment order and report to the concerned college by November 8, 2025.

The student submitted that she could arrange the fee of Rs. 15,00,000 only on November 8 but since it was a second Saturday, she was not able to make the payment through NEFT or RTGS mode. It was further submitted that though the candidate and her mother tried to get in touch with the college to inform them, there was no response. Meanwhile, since the candidate had not appeared to join the college on November 8, the seat was considered as not occupied and added towards the vacancy that was to be filled during the stray vacancy. She had thus approached the court seeking direction to the respondents to permit her to join the college.

The division bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq, while setting aside the order of the single judge, noted that the time scheme specified in the prospectus had to be followed by the candidates. The bench also noted that there may be many students who, like the candidate, could not join the allotted college in time. Though the court set aside the order of the single judge, it talked to the candidate after pronouncing the order, advising her to take up another course and flourish in life, and not be disheartened that she could not pursue the MBBS course.

Similarly, the two other students had also approached the Supreme Court claiming similar relief.