De-reserve vacant medical seats before counselling, not during: Delhi HC

Delhi HC held that vacant reserved medical seats should be de-reserved before counselling, not midway. It set aside a single judge's order, stating mid-process changes are inequitable to meritorious general category candidates.

The Delhi High Court has held that where no candidate from a reserved category qualifies in a particular speciality, the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) should, after obtaining the necessary approval from the State Government concerned, ensure that such seats are de-reserved before counselling so they can be filled by open category candidates instead of remaining vacant. However, the Court clarified that once the seat matrix has been published and candidates have exercised their preferences, courts should not direct de-reservation of seats midway through the admission process.

Answering a reference arising out of a split verdict, Justice Dinesh Mehta allowed the appeal filed by NBEMS and set aside the Single Judge's direction ordering conversion of an OBC Radiodiagnosis seat at General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula into an unreserved seat for the 2025 DNB (Post Diploma) admission process. The Court held that the writ petition filed by the candidate was liable to be dismissed.

Court's Rationale Against Mid-Process De-reservation

The Court observed that while an unfilled educational seat may appear to be a waste of national resources, vacancies could arise due to several practical reasons, including the absence of qualified candidates in a reserved category, failure of candidates to report, or ineligibility discovered during counselling.

It cautioned that permitting de-reservation after counselling would create inequitable consequences because more meritorious general category candidates may never have opted for the institution, believing the seat was unavailable to them. As a result, a less meritorious candidate could unfairly secure admission while those higher in merit remained excluded.

The Bench further observed that a candidate belonging to the unreserved category cannot claim a seat specifically reserved for another category. It noted that while reserved category candidates may compete for open category seats on merit, the reverse is impermissible under the reservation framework.

NBEMS Policy on Unfilled Seats

Rejecting the argument that the seat would otherwise have gone waste, the Court noted that NBEMS had already taken a policy decision in its 15th Accreditation Committee meeting held on August 9, 2024, that unfilled two-year DNB (Post Diploma) seats would be transferred to the three-year DNB (Post MBBS) pool. It held that this decision ensured the seat would not remain permanently vacant and found no merit in the contention that the policy was unenforceable merely because it was not incorporated in the counselling handbook. The Court observed that the handbook serves only as a guidance document and cannot be treated as a statutory instrument.

Practical Difficulties in Granting Relief

The Court also noted the practical impossibility of granting relief at such a belated stage. It observed that more than a year had elapsed since the 2025 admission session and the concerned two-year DNB seat had remained frozen because of interim orders. Had the candidate joined during that session, she would already have completed a substantial part of the course. It said that directing admission at this stage would require commencement of training afresh, disrupt the academic calendar and raise issues relating to attendance requirements and the rights of candidates in the subsequent admission cycle.

Prospective Directions for NBEMS

At the same time, the Court clarified that it was not laying down an absolute proposition that courts can never direct de-reservation of vacant seats. It observed that in the present case, the existing policy of transferring unfilled seats to another course eliminated the concern of wastage. Nevertheless, it remarked that NBEMS ought to have published a revised seat matrix immediately after it became clear that no OBC candidate had qualified in Radiodiagnosis.

Issuing prospective directions, the Court ordered NBEMS to ensure that where candidates from any reserved category, including OBC, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Persons with Disabilities, do not qualify in a particular speciality, or fewer candidates qualify than the number of reserved seats, such seats should be de-reserved after obtaining the requisite approval from the concerned State Government and filled by open category candidates. The Court further directed NBEMS to obtain prior or in-principle approvals well in advance so that seats do not remain vacant and deserving candidates are able to pursue studies in the institution of their choice. However, it categorically held that once the seat matrix has been declared and candidates have exercised their options, no court should direct de-reservation of such seats. (ANI)

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