The Supreme Court has directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi to permit the petitioner to participate in counselling scheduled on August 31 and to allow him admission in the available vacancy in the DM Cardiology Course at AIIMS, Rishikesh, if the petitioner is interested.
The division bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice R. Subhash Reddy has made it very clear that this judgment must not be treated as precedent considering the special circumstances of the case as examinations could not be held as scheduled due to overwhelming rise in Covid-19 cases, and there is still a seat available at AIIMS, Rishikesh.
The petition was filed by Vijaya Kumar Varada, a doctor and a final year student of the M.D. Course in General Medicine at the Institute of Naval Medicine, INHS Asvini, Mumbai, who has applied for admission to the Doctor of Medicine Course of the July 2021 session in pursuance of a Notification published for admission to Post Graduate and Post Doctoral courses by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
The petitioner was selected for a seat in the DM Course in Cardiology at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Odisha after clearing the required process. He was offered to join the seat in the prescribed period of time or else seat allotted to him would be forfeited.
The petitioner has submitted before the Court that the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik could not conduct the final MD General examination as per schedule in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Prospectus published by AIIMS requires candidates to acquire the requisite qualification for the Post Doctoral Course within July 31, 2021, failing which they would be debarred from taking admission in the institution.
During the course of hearing, a photocopy of the provisional degree certificate issued to the petitioner by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik has been handed over to this Court. Validity of the certificate is approved by the university.
Dushyant Parashar, counsel on behalf of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, informed the Court that two seats in the Post Doctoral Course in Cardiology are available in AIIMS, Rishikesh and there is no vacancy left in DM Course in Cardiology at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
The Apex Court, accordingly, in the special facts and circumstances of this case, allowed petitioner to get admission and instructed the institution to give him preference over candidates who have ranked below him in the merit list.