Delhi High Court has granted relief to two doctors who were denied admissions by NBE on the account of not producing the original copy of their MBBS degree at the time of counseling.
There were two Petitioners in this case. One received her MBBS degree within the cut-off period while the other got after the cut- off date. One of the aggrieved petitioners contended that according to a point no. 9 at page no. 19 read with proviso of the Handbook, petitioner could have presented the original MBBS degree certificate even at the time of joining the allotted institute. It was asserted that she had sought time to produce the same even via fax but that request was rejected. Petitioner also submitted that since this aspect concerned only about the placement of relevant before NBE (National Board of Examination) for fulfilling the eligibility criteria, the NBE could not have rejected the petitioner’s claim to seat only because the mood of proof was different from the prescribed one.
It was also argued that since the Petitioners met the eligibility criteria, the NBE should’ve given time to the petitioner to place the original MBBS degree certificate on record at least till the date of joining.
Appearing for the NBE, Mr Kirtiman Singh submitted that the Petitioners could not take advantage of error committed in the handbook of their rules and regulations for the reason that the documents/certificates that the candidates had to produce on the day of the final round of counseling were listed out not only in the handbook but also in two public notices.
While considering the clauses of the proviso, the court observed that the interpretation of the clause should be such that it balances the interest of not only the candidate who is being considered for allotment of the seat but of all those who are waiting.
In order to make sure that no such controversy arises in future, the court laid down following suggestions for the NBE:
1. Where the eligibility qualification or eligibility criteria are met after the cut-off date, candidate seeks admission only in academic sessions which would follow thereafter.
2. A candidate can place on record material which clear points to the direction that he or she has acquired the eligibility criteria, time should be given to produce the original certificates within a reasonable time.
3. The Counseling Committees or authorities who were charged should be able to use information technology tools to establish contact with their counterparts so that deserving candidates do not lose their chance of admittance to the designated course only because they do not have in their possession the original certificates.
4. Medical Boards will do well if they were to upload the particulars of doctors registered with them on their respective web-portals. By doing that counseling committees can verify the information given by the candidates.