Gujarat HC to pronounce verdict on Domicile Quota admission for 4 MBBS, BDS students

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court is soon going to pronounce its verdict on the petitions filed by four Under-Graduate (UG) MBBS/BDS students on cancellation of their admission in medical colleges on the grounds that the domicile certificates that they had submitted were "invalid".

The admissions of these students were cancelled two months after their courses commenced.

During the time of admission in domicile quota, the UG students had submitted their domicile certificates with the medical colleges, however, state government found some discrepancies with their domicile certificates.

According to the state government, the domicile certificates of these MBBS/BDS candidates were found to be "invalid" on the grounds that the students did not have 10 years' continuous stay in the state of Gujarat, which is the eligibility requirement for the admission in the domicile quota.

The state government submitted the report to the admission committee while complying with the orders of the High Court, who had mandated the state to verify domicile of all candidates applying in professional medical courses. The high took the decision of examining the domicile certificates of the students in response to the allegations claiming that many students had obtained these certificates, though they were not eligible. Moreover, there were some students who had domicile certificates obtained from other states also, reports TOI.

On the basis of the report, the admission committee passed orders cancelling admissions of four students last month. Consequently, the students moved the court.

Medical dialogues had earlier reported that the government had framed the Gujarat Professional Medical Educational Courses (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fees) Rules, 2017 on June 23, 2017.

"Rule 4(3) of the rules states that for being eligible for admission to MBBS and other courses through NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test), a candidate must have passed Class 10 and Class 12 from a school in Gujarat...

... Domicile meant a candidate should be a continuous resident of Gujarat for a certain number of years."

The scheme of medical admissions is such that 15 per cent of the seats in each medical college are filled through the national quota, while the remaining 85 per cent by the respective states.

Read Also: Gujarat HC upholds domicile clause for MBBS admissions

During the recent hearing on the case, the MBBS/BDS students submitted that their parents were Gujarati and had shifted in the past outside the state. However, for more than a decade they were settled in Gujarat and hold voter IDs with addresses in Gujarat.

The counsel for the petitioners submitted that domicile certificate issued only upon due verification by the domicile verification committee and the admissions could not have been cancelled without hearing the petitioners.

Maintaining its stand, the state government informed the HC that the domicile certificates of the petitioners were revoked as they were not fulfilling the norm of 10 years of study in Gujarat. She argued that the petitioners were not born in Gujarat and had studied in other states before coming to Gujarat for their studies.

DNA reports that as for now, the single judge bench of honourable Justice JB Pardiwala has reserved the judgment while ordering the government and the petitioners to submit all the documents that prove their continuous stay in Gujarat for 10 years.