CHENNAI: The operation of the proceedings dated September 7 of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the subsequent orders of the Puducherry government invalidating the admission of 778 students in first year MBBS course for 2016-17 have been stayed by the Madras High Court.
Passing interim orders on the writ petitions from 108 aggrieved students, Justice K Ravichandrabaabu said that both the proceedings showed that they were issued without giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners or to the respective institutions, where they were undergoing the course for the past one year. Discharging them from their courses at this stage would be a major penal action, having drastic consequences on their academic career.
Such drastic action cannot be taken without following the principles of natural justice. Having allowed them to continue in the course for one year, if the impugned orders are given immediate effect, pending final decision on the petitions, it would certainly cause great prejudice and affect their interest, in the event of their succeeding in their cases later, the judge said.
On the other hand, if these students are permitted to continue the course by granting an interim order of stay and later if they fail to succeed in these writ petitions, certainly they have to leave the college without seeking any equity.
“This court finds that the petitioners have made out a prima facie case for the grant of interim order,” the judge said and made it clear that the same would be subject to the result of the petitions.
He then directed MCI and Puducherry government to file their counter on or before October 9 and posted the matter for final disposal on October 23.
Based on the report of Justice Chitra Venkataraman, a retired judge of Madras High court, that all 778 students were admitted without following the norms, MCI had cancelled all the admissions. According to MCI, a combined merit list was not prepared before admitting these students.
Of the total 778 students, 108 approached the High Court and sought to quash the proceedings of MCI and Puducherry government. They submitted that they were admitted in various medical colleges and deemed to be universities in Puducherry during 2016-17, i.e. well before the cut-off date of September 30, 2016. Their admissions, made strictly according to merits in the NEET, cannot be found fault with. The students combined merit list procedure was not in vogue during 2016-17.
It was introduced only in the present academic year 2017-18 and that too, pursuant to the Supreme Court order. The very basis for this action by MCI and Puducherry government was on the basis of a complaint from the parents of All Centac Students-Parents Association and if any action is to be taken on this, the students and the institutions in which they are continuing, ought to have given an opportunity of hearing, they argued.