Madras High Court directs medical college to allot seat to student
The court was not inclined to make the petitioner to go through the process of counselling again
Chennai: Once a candidate pays the college admission fees, he or she becomes a student of the college concerned. Hence, there is no question of surrendering the seat, even if he/she wants to, the Madras high court held.
The court said this while directing the government medical college, Theni, to accommodate a Kerala student, who was denied admission following an inadvertent entry in online application form in the academic year 2015-16.
The petitioner, Apsara, said she applied through online for admission to first year M.B.B.S under the all India quota. Based on her marks, she was provisionally allotted in August to government Medical College, Theni.
Replying to a communication sent by the Dean of the Medical College, she expressed her willingness to take part in second and third round of counselling. After accepting fees from her, the Dean issued the admission slip. Petitioner's counsel, M.Ravi, said when Apsara was browsing the website relating to admission, without her knowledge, her sister pressed a key indicating 'surrender of seat'.
When she went to college for admission, the vice-principal informed her that she had surrendered her seat. On September 4, she submitted representations to authorities. Subsequently, she filed the writ petition seeking a direction to the authorities to restore the seat allotted to her.
Justice M.M.Sundresh said the facts and circumstances showed that for the inadvertent mistake committed by her, she could not be penalised on technical ground after the college had admitted her as a student. The court was not inclined to make the petitioner to go through the process of counselling again. Accordingly, the judge directed the authorities to treat Apsara as a student admitted to the college.