LI Network
Published on: November 21, 2023 at 12:44 IST
The Madras High Court has directed four private medical colleges in Puducherry and the Union Territory’s Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) to pay ₹15 lakh each as compensation to 16 doctors who were illegally denied post-graduate seats in the 2017-18 medical admissions scandal.
The ruling, delivered on November 9 by a division bench comprising Justices R Subramanian and R Kalaimathi, also upheld Justice N Anand Venkatesh’s 2020 order, which deemed the admission of 64 PG medical students in the four colleges during the 2017-18 academic year as illegal.
The judgement is a result of the confusion surrounding the admission and counseling process for PG medical seats after the introduction of NEET by the Union government in 2017.
Numerous instances of illegal admissions to private colleges in Puducherry came to light, prompting a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. The investigation revealed that government officials, private colleges, and CENTAC members abused their official positions, cheated genuine students, and collected exorbitant fees by denying admission to CENTAC-sponsored students.
Following the CBI’s findings, the Medical Council of India canceled the admissions of several students and ordered private colleges to discharge those who had been admitted illegally. In October 2020, Justice Venkatesh dismissed petitions from 64 students challenging their discharge orders.
The division bench, led by Justice Subramanian, heard appeals from 28 of these students and another batch of petitions from 18 meritorious CENTAC-sponsored students who were denied admissions.
While the bench acknowledged that the 18 students seeking admission were no longer eligible, as all the students had completed their post-graduate degrees, it ruled that they deserved compensation.
The four private colleges, namely Arupadai Veedu Medical College, Vinayaka Mission Medical College, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, and Sri Manakula Vinayakar Medical College and Hospital, were directed to pay ₹10 lakh to each of the 16 students. Additionally, CENTAC was instructed to pay ₹5 lakh to each of the students due to its active connivance with the colleges in facilitating illegal admissions.
The High Court, while dismissing appeals against Justice Venkatesh’s October 2020 order, emphasized that granting relief would amount to legalizing illegality.
The court rejected the plea for sympathy, stating that the admissions were proven illegal, and the students themselves had undertaken not to claim equity while securing interim orders.