Back door entries granted to highly connected candidates in Private medical colleges: Allahabad HC

As per the Supreme Court’s direction, admissions in all government and private medical colleges in the country should be done through the centralised counselling system on the basis of the NEET examination result only.

The issue of backdoor entry into medical colleges has caught the attention of courts with the Allahabad High Court recently observing that certain candidates with lower marks were granted back door entries in private medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh.

While hearing a plea filed by NEET-UG candidates, the high court observed that some candidates with lower scores are being allowed admission into private medical colleges through backdoor entry.

The High Court observed: “When there is no reservation in the Private Medical Colleges, how can students at points nos.2, 3 and 4, who have much lower marks than the petitioners be admitted in the Private Medical Colleges? It is apparent from the record that back door entries have been granted to certain privileged and highly connected candidates,” reported Live Law

A petition was filed in the Allahabad HC by 11 National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) candidates. These petitioners are non-residents/non-domiciles of the State of UP and appeared in the NEET-UG. The petitioners have claimed that they passed with marks ranging between 108-132. Petitioners belong to the OBC/ SC category for which the cut-off had been declared as 107 whereas the cut-off for the general category is 138.

The petitioners submitted that as per guidelines/policy for candidates appearing in counselling for MBBS/BDS Course for the academic session 2023-24 in the Government Medical Colleges as well as for Private Medical Colleges, counselling is followed by a mop-up round. The eligibility criteria in Clause 2 (2) provided that only the domicile of UP could apply for admission to MBBS/BDS Courses in all Government Medicals/Dental Colleges/Medical Universities/Minority institutions.

However, for admission to Private Medical/Dental Colleges, Clause 2(4) domicile of the State of Uttar Pradesh was not a necessary criterion. Further, Clause 7 specifically provides that there will be no reservation of any kind in private Medical/Dental Colleges. When the petitioners tried to apply for counselling in their categories, it showed “not eligible” for both 1st and 2nd rounds of counselling as well as in the mop-round and stray vacancy rounds. However, admissions were provided to candidates who had obtained lower marks than petitioners and were domiciled in Uttar Pradesh.

In the past, several high courts and even the Supreme Court have expressed their displeasure over backdoor entry into private medical colleges across the country. In 2021, the Delhi High Court made a similar observation as the court dismissed an appeal by five students who were granted admission in 2016 by LN Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Bhopal, without their undergoing the centralised counselling conducted by the Department of Medical Education (DME).

Last year in 2022, The Supreme Court of India issued notice to the National Medical Commission (NMC) over the issue of backdoor entry. As per the Supreme Court’s direction, admissions in all government and private medical colleges in the country should be done through the centralised counselling system on the basis of the NEET examination result only.

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