New Delhi: In an effort to regularize their provisional admissions granted by a Unani College in the BUMS Course, eight NEET-qualified students have submitted a petition to the Supreme Court.
Initially, these students sought admission from the Ayush Department (Bhopal) for the Bachelor of Unani Medicine & Surgery (BUMS) course for the academic year 2022-2023 by approaching the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
They stated that after taking the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in 2022, they passed the exam. However, despite being listed on the merit list, the authorities did not call them for registration and guidance.
In their court petition, the students claimed that the AYUSH department issued their admission letters only on the final admission date. Consequently, they had to request provisional admission from Unani College, which subsequently issued them provisional admission letters. Nonetheless, according to the students, the AYUSH Department has yet to regularize or confirm their admissions.
Conversely, the authorities contended that the petitioners had not registered themselves on the online portal before the commencement of the first counseling session. As a result, the subsequent admission process could not proceed. The authorities argued that this constituted a backdoor admission since the Unani College does not have the authority to grant final admission to the petitioners. They also highlighted that the relevant academic session had already concluded.
Upon reviewing the case, the MP High Court examined all the records and observed that the petitioners had not followed the procedures outlined in the National Commission of Indian System of Medicine (Minimum Standard for Under Graduate Unani Education) Regulations, 2020, which govern admissions to Ayurvedic, Homeopathy, and Unani education courses in Madhya Pradesh.
"The petitioners were not part of the counseling process. They were admitted illegally by respondent no.3/college, which had no right to grant direct admission to the students without following due procedure. This can only be described as illegal," the HC bench observed.
Further expressing concerns over backdoor admissions in medical colleges, the HC bench noted, "It is high time that such backdoor admissions in educational institutions, including medical colleges, are stopped. Thousands of students across the country work very hard to gain admission to educational institutions based on their merit. Allowing backdoor admissions in any educational institution would be a grave injustice to those students who, despite having higher qualifications, are denied admission because seats are taken up and blocked by such backdoor admits."
According to a recent report by Live Law, the petitioners, challenging the HC order, approached the Supreme Court, claiming that three out of the eight had registered on the portal but were still not called for counseling. Additionally, the plea stated that on the last admission date, 03.04.2023, even after the clearance round of counseling, eight seats at Unani College remained vacant. Therefore, the Council granted provisional admission to these students for those eight seats.
In their plea to the Supreme Court, the petitioners requested a stay on the impugned judgment and sought directions for the authorities to allow them to appear in the examination for the BUMS 1st Year Course scheduled to commence on 12.06.2024. The case is scheduled to be heard in a week.
