20 lakh compensation MBBS aspirant denied admission, Medical College faces HC wrath

Aurangabad: Dr Ulhas Patil Medical College, Jalgaon affiliated to the Godavari Foundation is to bear the brunt of having flouted admission norms with the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court directing the state government to withdraw both its recognition and affiliation. A suo motu contempt proceeding against the college authorities has also been ordered by the High Court.

The bench has ordered that the college pay Rs. 20 lakh compensation to the petitioner Tejaswini Phad, who has claimed to have been denied admission against vacant seats after the centralized admission process(CAP) rounds in 2012, despite 19 others with lesser merit being allocated seats in the college.

The Parbhani native, Phad had filed a writ in February 2013. The High Court’s ruling on Tuesday called the admission procedure adopted by the college for admitting the 19 lesser meritorious 'illegal'.

These 19 have already completed their MBBS and have received their degrees.

“We will have to examine the HC’s judgment and other relevant aspects, including past rulings by the Supreme Court in such cases, before taking a call on whether to withhold or recall these degrees,” law officer Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Sandeep Kulkarni, to the TOI on Friday.

TOI further adds that suo motu contempt proceedings against the college has been ordered by HC bench of Justice Sunil K Kotwal and Justice T V Nalawade.

However, the college plans to move an appeal against the HC’s decision in the SC.

Phad had in her writ submitted that the college admitted the 19 students in violation of the revised admission schedule issued by Pravesh Niyantran Samiti (PNS), the state’s admissions regulatory panel.

She said the list of these admissions was released two days prior to the counselling round and this had deprived many students their right to secure admission, she mentioned in her writ. Among other things, she sought the admissions to be cancelled.

The bench, however, said the admission cancellation decision related to these lesser meritorious 19 had already been taken by the PNS.

On January 11, 2013, before the filing of Phad’s petition, the PNS had held the admissions illegal and recommended their cancellation by the state government.

The students, however, continued to pursue their degrees after the college filed a petition against the PNS decision with the Aurangabad bench of the HC. In 2016, an interim relief was also granted to the college the HC bench in Mumbai.

College registrar Pramod Bhirud claimed, “In 2015, the PNS regularised our admissions with a condition that the college deposit Rs 20 lakh per student with the state. We made the deposit and challenged the PNS’ directives before the HC bench in Mumbai and the matter is still pending. ”

Phad’s lawyer Siddheshwar Thombre told TOI, “The state government and other authorities, including the health sciences university, had turned a blind eye to the PNS’ report seeking cancellation of these admissions. The bench has now partly allowed our petition and has dismissed the college petition against the PNS decision.”