Delhi High Court: A Single Judge Bench comprising of Siddharth Mridul J., addressed a petition concerning a NEET UG, 2018 candidate, aggrieved during the counselling session of the said examination.
Petitioner was willing to participate in the counselling session of NEET UG, 2018 on attaining an all India rank of 24392 and had registered for the ‘All India Counselling’ by opting for ‘All India Quota’ seats and ‘Central University Quota’ seats, but couldn’t be granted admission on account of her all India merit.
The grievance of the petitioner is that due to her limiting the options at the time of online registration in ‘All India Quota’ and ‘Central University Quota’ she was barred to register in the second round of counselling under the category of ‘Deemed Universities’. Also, it has been stated that the option of resetting was also exhausted by the petitioner which left her with no choice on registering for the second counselling under the category of ‘Deemed Universities’.
The High Court on taking into consideration the circumstances and all the other aspects of the issue and placing reliance on Salem Advocate Bar Association, T.N. v. Union of India, (2005) 6 SCC 344, stated that “rules or procedure is the handmaid of justice and not its mistress.” Therefore, in the special circumstances of the case, the Court directed the respondent that in the interest of justice the petitioner shall be permitted to register herself afresh for the ‘Deemed Universities’ category as there is no bar for a meritorious student to be considered for admission. [Jasmeen Kaur v. Union of India,2018 SCC OnLine Del 9778, decided on 10-07-2018]
