HC relief for MBBS student seeking spot on NRI quota list

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Monday directed the Medical Counselling Committee of the directorate general of health services to consider the candidature of MBBS Swara Kiran Bhatt for her inclusion in the merit list of eligible candidates for NEET-PG Round 3 in the NRI quota, despite her failure to upload one mandatory document – the NRI sponsor's passbook – during the application process.While ordering MCC to consider Bhatt's candidature, Justice Nirzar Desai directed her to deposit Rs 1 lakh with the HC legal services committee, as the student herself expressed a desire to donate the amount irrespective of whether she ultimately secured admission in PG courses or not.
According to the case details, Bhatt cleared her MBBS on an NRI seat, sponsored by her maternal aunt. She took NEET-PG 2025 and secured an All India Rank of 1,80,339, and her score was much above the cut-off marks. When she applied for the PG courses, she failed to upload the sponsor's passbook. This resulted in rejection of her candidature, and she approached the HC seeking a direction to MCC to include her name in the NRI eligible list and permit her participation in counselling.It was submitted that though she could not upload the sponsor's passbook, a mandatory document to be supplied for eligibility in the NRI quota, she sent the document by email to the authority on Jan 30. The omission was a minor lacuna and must not cost the student her career.MCC's counsel Ankit Shah opposed the petition, stating that the admission process substantially progressed and the counselling window was set to close on Monday noon, when the arguments took place. He maintained that non-uploading of the sponsor's passbook justified non-consideration of her candidature. After the hearing, the high court said, "It is expected that a person who already became a doctor and aspires to become a specialist would adhere to and maintain the requisite precision, and be absolutely meticulous while uploading the application form. However, such a minor mistake of failing to upload a single document ought not to result in a lifetime regret for a student like the petitioner."The HC directed the authorities "to consider the case of the petitioner in the merit list, if the petitioner is otherwise found eligible". They were ordered not to reject her claim for a PG NEET seat solely on account of the lacuna of the failure to upload the passbook of the sponsor while filling up the PG NEET application form.