(Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna, JJ.)
Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 289 of 2022 In Writ Petition (Civil) No. 223 of 2022, decided on July 22, 2022
Subhankar Pattanayak _______________________________ Petitioner;
v.
K. Ramesh Reddy and Others _____________________ Respondent(s).
Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 289 of 2022 and Writ Petition (Civil) No. 223 of 2022
The Order of the court was delivered by
Order
1. By an order dated 31 March 2022, this Court had directed that:
“(v) In line with the regulations which have been notified on 5 April 2018, students who have joined in round 2 of the state quota or round 2 of the AIQ shall not be eligible to participate in the mop-up round for All India Quota.”
2. The basis on which these contempt proceedings have been initiated is that, despite the order of this Court dated 31 March 2022, several State Medical Councils did not follow the directives. Moreover, the Medical Counselling Committee1 had previously issued guidelines on 16 March 2022 stating that candidates who had been allotted seats and had joined under the State quota would not be eligible for participation in the All India Quota2 mop up rounds.
3. Certain States like the States of Maharashtra and Gujarat had issued notifications permitting candidates who had joined in the second round to resign from the State quota seats and clam the status of non-joined candidates in order to be eligible to participate in the AIQ mop up round. When the breach of the order of this Court came to light on 4 April, 2022, the State of Maharashtra issued a notification on 5 April 2022 while the State of Gujarat had rectified its earlier notification dated 4 April 2022. However, it has been pointed out that several other States continued to breach the order of this Court dated 31 March 2022.
4. On 9 May 2022, this Court directed the States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to explain the manner in which the order of this Court dated 31 March 2022 was complied with. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General, was requested to assist the Court to ensure that the problem which emerged in the current year would be obviated in the future. Each of the above State Governments were directed to furnish full data to the MCC within two weeks.
5. In pursuance of the above directions, affidavits have been filed by the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
6. Ms. Aishwarya Bhati has placed on the record a notice dated 11 July 2022 issued by the Directorate General of Health Services3, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The notice is extracted below:
“Urgent Attention all Participating States/Counselling Authorities and Candidates:
In compliance of the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India vide Order dated 31/03/2022 in W.P. (C) No. 174 of 2022, Medical Counselling Committee of DGJS, MoHFW has developed a software for all the participating states/counselling authorities for NEET-UG/PG to upload the names and roll numbers of students who have joined up to round 2 and further rounds of the state quota or round 2 of the AIQ on the common portal.
These joined candidates upto round 2 of AIQ or State Quota shall not be eligible to participate in the further rounds for All India Quota or for State Quota from the academic year 2022-23 onwards.”
7. As the above notice indicates, the MCC has developed a software for all participating states and counselling authorities for the NEET-UG/PG in order to ensure that the names and roll numbers of candidates who have joined up to round 2 and further rounds of the state quota or round 2 of AIQ are put up on the common portal. Moreover, the notice expressly clarifies that candidates who have joined up to round 2 of AIQ or state quota shall not be eligible to participate in the further rounds of AIQ or state quota from the academic year 2022-23.
8. The development of the above software should ensure that a uniform pattern is followed by all the States across India commencing from the academic year 2022-2023. For the current academic year, since the students have already joined and the courses have commenced, we would, in the interest of justice, put an end to the contempt proceedings. However, we take on record the assurance which has been set out by the DGHS and direct that all the States and counselling authorities in the NEET-UG/PG shall scrupulously comply with the above directions from the academic year 2022-2023.
9. The Contempt Petition is, accordingly, disposed of.
10. Pending application, if any, stands disposed of.
———
1 “MCC”
2 “AIQ”
3 “DGHS”
