NEET is Mandatory eligibility criteria for BAMS,BHMS: HC denies relief to 100 students

Ahmedabad: The admissions of 100 candidates, who took BAMS, BHMS admissions in Ayurveda and Homeopathy colleges stand cancelled, as the Gujarat High Court has refused to regularise their 2018 admissions that was apparently granted by private colleges based on Senior Secondary marks while disregarding the NEET marks.

The court, while dismissing a batch of petitions held that the only criteria to fill vacant BAMS and BHMS seats is qualifying NEET examination, which was one of the mandatory eligibility criteria for getting admission in the professional medical courses.

The issue evolved after few seats remained empty even after the counselling rounds for admission in BAMS and BHMS courses in 2018. The vacant seats were surrendered to the concerned Institutions for filling up the same as per the Regulations and as per the criteria laid down by the Ministry of Ayush.

However, several of these institutions then admitted class 12 Science pass-outs without considering their NEET result. Observing the same, the university refused to enrol such candidates.

The candidates and the Self-Financed Ayurveda Colleges of Gujarat then moved the High Court seeking to direct the authorities to regularize the admissions.

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The petitioner's counsel contended that is that the admission process undertaken by the Admission Committee on the basis of merit list prepared following Rule 4 of the Rules of 2017 had stood concluded on 26th October 2018 in view of the notice published by the Committee on the website on 25th October 2018 inter alia declaring that if any seats remained vacant after 27th October 2018, those seats would be surrendered to the respective institutions and the institutions could fill those seats as per the Council Rules.

Responding to this, the counsel state that if the documents/communications produced on the record are appreciated in the light of the relevant Rules and Regulations framed for the admission to the first year of the degree in professional medical educational courses, there remains no shadow of doubt that the concerned candidate had to fulfill the eligibility criteria for admission laid down in Rule 4 of the Rules of 2017.

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Examing the entire issue, Justice Bela Trivedi observed that none of the students admitted by the said colleges had secured the requisite score at NEET-UG 2018, and therefore, were not qualified or eligible for getting the admissions in the respective courses as per the eligibility criteria laid down in Rule 4 of the said Rules of 2017. The dismissed the plea and held;

The said Rule mandated that the candidate, who desired admission in the first year of the degree in a professional medical educational course, has to qualify the NEET conducted in the relevant academic year.