New Delhi, Dec 7 : The Supreme Court on Monday directed a medical college in Telangana to pay compensation of Rs 10 lakh to a MS Surgery course aspirant, who lost an academic year after she was illegally denied admission.
A bench comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta said: “Respondent No 1 (aspirant) has lost one precious academic year for no fault of hers for which she has to be compensated by way of an amount of Rs 10 lakh to be paid by Respondent No 2 – College within a period of four weeks from today.”
The top court also ordered the college to grant her admission in the next academic year, due to the expiration of last date of admission of the current academic year.
“One seat in MS (General Surgery) course from the Management Quota of Respondent No 2 College for the next academic year (2021-22) shall be granted to Respondent No 1,” it said.
The verdict has come in an appeal by the National Medical Commission challenging the Telangana High Court judgment, which ordered it to create or sanction one seat for Mothukuru Sriyah Koumudi, who had had applied for postgraduate course in surgery at the Kamineni Academy of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Hyderabad (Respondent no. 2) after securing a rank in NEET 2020.
The top court observed that a student is only entitled to a compensation in cases of illegal denial of admission and no admission can be directed after the last date.
“The manner in which Respondent No 2 (College) acted in depriving admission to Respondent No 1 and giving admission to Respondent No 5 on August 11, 2020 is deplorable. The managements of the Medical Colleges are not expected to indulge in such illegalities in making admissions to medical courses,” it said.
After the exam, Koumudi was given a provisional admission and was report to the college on the last date for admission. She came to the college with her parents for admission, but another candidate, who was below her in the merit list was granted admission. She moved challenged this decision of the college before the High Court, which directed the college to accommodate her.
The National Medical Commission challenged this order. The top court noted that the High Court should not have ordered for creation of an additional seat, as the annual intake capacity is fixed by the National Medical Commission and has to be strictly adhered to.
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