Kerala HC junks MES Medical College plea to fill vacant DM Neurology Seat

Ernakulam: In a major setback to MES Medical College, Kerala High Court has dismissed its petition seeking to direct the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Director General of Health Services(DGHS) and Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) to reduce the minimum marks required for admission to DM (Neurology) and permit the medical college to fill up its sole vacant seat in the said course for the academic year 2019. The court also did not give relief to the plea of the medical college to extend the deadline of admissions to enable the medical college to fill its empty seats

MES Medical college which got permission to admit one student to the course of DM(Neurology), alleged that the Centre, KUHS, DGHS, National Board of Examinations (NBE) and Medical Council of India (MCI) none of them notify the said vacancy to the medical college for admitting students of their choice.

In so far as the common admission process undertaken by the Government is concerned, none applied for attending the aforesaid course in the college. The petitioner's counsel stated the authorities did not notify the said vacancy to the college for admitting students of their choice, and hence the writ petition is filed.

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The medical college further substantiated its contention by referring to an earlier case, wherein, the court had earlier permitted the students to be admitted even after the expiry of the time, taking into account the facts and circumstances involved in the matter.

On the other hand, the respondent's counsel contended that no one applied to attend the DM Neurology course at MES Medical College.

After hearing both the parties, the court noted;

This is a case in which concerned respondents did not comply with the procedure formalities by informing the petitioner to admit students of their choice. But when a common platform is provided and there have been no applicants to get admission, it is not appropriate to extend time to enable the petitioner to admit the students of their own choice.

Subsequently, Justice A M Shaffique dismissed the petition stating;

We don't think that this writ petition makes out a case of any arbitrariness warranting interference by this Court.

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