HC imposes cost on DME

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, in a recent order, imposed a cost of ₹5 lakh on the Director of Medical Education to be paid to a petitioner whose daughter was not allotted a seat in a government medical college despite eligibility.

The court was hearing a petition filed in 2018 by V.P. Arunagiri, who said his daughter A.D. Keerthana, belonging to a Scheduled Tribe, secured 136 marks in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test 2017. She had secured 1,124 marks in Class XII examination. She was allotted the serial number 43 out of 46 seats earmarked for ST candidates.

After the results were announced, she was called for counselling by the Directorate of Medical Education. The petitioner said though three seats were available, the Selection Committee had accommodated three persons belonging to the Open Category and a Scheduled Caste respectively. She attended the counselling and was selected to a college for BDS course as it was listed under the Government College category as per the vacancy list. She learnt that it was a self-financing college.

The petitioner’s daughter attended the second round of counselling in 2017 and requested the authorities to re-allot BDS in any of the colleges, which the authorities refused stating that the she could opt for BDS course only in self-financing colleges, as she had already been allotted BDS in Government College.

The action of the authorities had affected the career of his daughter, the petitioner said and sought compensation.

Justice C. Saravanan observed that with the advent of the NEET for entrance into Medical and Dental Colleges in the country, deserving students having domicile in the States had been at a partial disadvantage, as seats were allocated based on national ranking and seats might be allotted in far-flung areas.

The inevitable result was that government medical and dental colleges in the State were compelled to accommodate students from all over the country, leading to a scarcity of seats for students domiciled in the State. To compound the woes of students aspiring to enter medical and dental professions, there appeared to be a trend of seat swapping among candidates, not due to any fault of their own but perhaps from the scarcity of seats and systemic defects in the current practice of allotment of seats to deserving candidates, the court observed.

The court observed that it was of the view that costs could be imposed on the DME for torturing both the petitioner’s daughter and the petitioner by accommodating the girl in a college where fees were over and above the normal limit. The court directed the DME to pay the cost to the petitioner.

The court observed that it was open to the petitioner to file a suit for compensation on account of the mental agony the petitioner’s daughter would have suffered.

Published - September 19, 2024 01:12 am IST