Aastha Thakur
Published on: 07 August 2022 at 21:13 IST
The Kerala High Court for the aspirants of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) who desire to apply for Non-Resident Indian quota in MBBS courses for the upcoming academic year, ordered the concerned authority to keep the online portal for an additional 10 days.
Justice Devan Ramachandran ordered the Commissioner of Entrance Examinations to make the facility available on the online portal for a period of 10 days from August 5.
The released judgement states, “I order these writ petitions, directing the competent Authorities to keep the Online Portal open for the petitioners and all other candidates, to make options to the NRI Quota, for a period of 10 days from August 5, 2022,”
The Court was of the opinion that since students are still allowed to opt for other or addition subjects, allowing candidates to also opt for NRI seats would not delay the selection process, especially in light of the fact that the results of the examination have not yet been published.
The Court states, “Even the results of the NEET examinations have not yet been published and candidates are even now allowed to opt for other or additional subjects. When these factors not controverted, I fail to understand how the verification process can be delayed merely because candidates are allowed to opt for the NRI seats also.”
The Court was hearing the two petitions filed by some NEET candidates challenging a decision f Commissioner for Entrance Examination refusing to grant them another chance for modify their option, for being included in the NRI quota for admission to the MBBS course in the academic year 2022-23.
The counsel for the Commissioner of Entrance Exam that candidates have freedom to add required courses as per their eligibility. However, no second opportunity can be given to opt for the NRI seats as it will only cause unnecessary delay in the verification process.
The counsel for petitioners put forward the explanation that as the NEET examinations result is yet to be published, so it is just an excuse and will not cause any additional delay as stated by the opposite counsel.
The Court after listening the both sides, gave the judgement in the favour of the petitioners and directed the authorities to keep the portal open providing the facility to opt under the NRI quota for fixed period of 10 more days from August 5.
However, it clarified that that it has not spoken about the entitlement of the petitioners or any other person to be granted the benefits under the NRI quota, and that the same will be subject to all requisite and mandatory criteria being satisfied by them.