The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition filed by a 17-year-old MBBS aspirant seeking admission to Topiwala National Medical College (Nair Medical College and Hospital) in Mumbai, refusing to overturn the admissions of other students. The petitioner, who had already secured a seat at Government Medical College, Nagpur under the Hilly Area (HA) category, sought to displace students admitted to the Mumbai college, prompting strong disapproval from the court.

The court, in its ruling, observed that the petitioner’s case exemplified “a man’s never-ending desire for more” and disapproved of students attempting to dislodge others from their rightful admissions. The court noted that the student, though already admitted to an MBBS program, insisted on a transfer to his preferred institution, thereby consuming the court’s time unnecessarily.

A bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and Milind Sathaye, said: “This case serves as a classic example of a man’s never ending desire for more. The Petitioner being a minor is prosecuting this petition through his father, who is apparently a doctor. Our society has reached a point where unsuspecting innocent students are sought to be dislodged from their admissions in MBBS colleges at the hands of a fellow student. It is unfortunate but true. Desperation of students and their parents for admission to MBBS course ‘from a particular college’ is palpable.”  

Disapproving with the practice, the HC said that: “We place on record our disapproval for taking precious judicial time of this Court in an effort to seek allotment in ‘a particular government college’ when the Petitioner is already allotted a seat in ‘other government medical college’.”

The petitioner, who scored 666 marks in NEET-UG 2024 and secured an All India Rank (AIR) of 14,874, had applied under the HA Open category. During the Common Admission Process (CAP) rounds, he was allotted Government Medical College, Nagpur, despite listing Nair Medical College as his fifth preference. Dissatisfied with the allocation, he alleged that the seat distribution process was flawed and unfairly denied him a spot at Nair Medical College.

He contended that after a female candidate, initially allotted an HA Open Women seat at Nair Medical College, was upgraded to another institute, the seat should have been given to the next female candidate. This, in turn, would have freed up an HA Open seat, which the petitioner claimed he was entitled to. However, the State CET Cell clarified that seats reserved for female candidates could not be reassigned to male candidates as per the applicable rules.

Additionally, the court noted that the petitioner had submitted a “status retention form,” formally accepting his admission at Government Medical College, Nagpur, thereby making him ineligible for further rounds of counseling. The judges emphasised that rules governing the admission process must be “strictly adhered to”, ensuring finality in medical admissions, which involve thousands of aspirants.

The petitioner also challenged the admission of another candidate to Nair Medical College in a subsequent stray vacancy round. However, the court observed that the latter had opted for a “free exit” earlier, making him eligible for further rounds, unlike the petitioner, who had secured and retained his allotted seat.