Bombay High Court
Vaibhav S/O Krishna Tambekar vs State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maha. ... on 9 October, 2024
Author: Bharti Dangre
Bench: Bharati Dangre
2024:BHC-NAG:11385-DB
1 909wp5814-24 ORDER.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR
WRIT PETITION (WP) NO.5814 OF 2024
1) Vaibhav S/o Krishna Tambekar,
Aged about 18 years, Occupation:
Student, R/o.Near Hirva Talav,
Mangalwaripeth, Umred, Tah. Umred,
District-Nagpur.
.... Petitioner(s)
// VERSUS //
1) State Common Entrance Test Cell,
Maharashtra State, Mumbai, through
its Chairman, 8th Floor, New Excelsior
Building, A.K. Nayak Marg, Fort,
Mumbai-400001.
2) V.S.P.M.S. Madhuribai Deshmukh
Institute of Nursing Education,
Nagpur, through its Principal, Digdoh
Hills, Hingna Road, Nagpur-440019.
3) Directorate of Medical Education &
Research Through its Chairman, 4th
Amendment carried
Floor, Government Dental College & out as per Court's
order dt. 9.10.2024
Hospital, Saint George Hospital
Compound, Railway Station, Near
CSMT, Fort, Mumbai-400001.
... Respondent(s)
.........................
Mr. A.R.Ingole, Advocate for petitioner.
Mr. N.A.Gaikwad, Advocate for respondent No.1
Mr. Rohan Deo, Advocate for respondent No.2.
.............................
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CORAM : BHARATI DANGRE & ABHAY J. MANTRI, JJ.
DATE : 09.10.2024
ORAL JUDGMENT : (PER : BHARTI DANGRE, J)
1. At the outset, the learned counsel for the petitioner seek
liberty to amend the cause title of petition by adding the
Director of Medical Education and Research, Mumbai as
respondent No.3.
We grant necessary permission and permit the petitioner
to carry out the amendment forthwith. Re-verification is
dispensed with.
2. Rule. Rule is made forthwith. Heard finally by the
consent of the parties.
3. The petitioner, being desirous and duly qualified to be
admitted in the B.Sc. Nursing course, participated in the
State Common Entrance Test (CET) conducted by the
respondent No.1 and on clearing the same, filled in the
application and was allotted CET Roll number for
consideration of his candidature in the admission process
from Scheduled Caste (SC) category.
In the CET examination, the result of which was
declared on 19.06.2024, the petitioner secured percentile
score of 98.73 and filled in the preference form.
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In round-II of the admission process, he was allotted a
seat reserved for SC candidate in the respondent No.2-
V.S.P.M.S. Madhuribai Deshmukh Institute of Nursing
Education, Nagpur, based on his merit and preference.
The allocation of the said college in favour of the
petitioner is evident from the list published on conclusion of
round-II, when the petitioner was allotted a seat in the
respondent No.2 college from the State quota.
4. According to the petitioner, for seeking admission in the
respondent No.2 college, he had to submit Demand Draft
(DD) of Rs.16,604/-, but 7th and 8th September, 2024, there
were public holidays and the bank was closed on 9th
September, 2024 and therefore, he could not submit the DD
and was denied the admission. It is the specific contention
of the petitioner that for reasons beyond his control, he
could not furnish the DD and therefore, he had to lose his
admission.
5. Mr. Gaikwad, learned counsel representing the
respondent No.1 has placed before us notice No.17
published by the State Common Entrance Test Cell
Maharashtra State, Mumbai on 25.09.2024, declaring the
schedule for online registration and CAP rounds.
Upon notice being issued to the respondent No.2
college, Mr. Rohan Deo, learned counsel, marked his
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appearance before us and according to him, the petitioner
had to report to the college and deposit the fees between 4 th
to 9th of September 2024, but the petitioner did not take any
steps on 4th, 5th and 6th September, 2024. It is his specific
contention that it was also open for him to deposit a cheque
and subsequently replace the same by DD.
6. On 8th October 2024, Mr. Deo, learned counsel, made a
statement before us that the college has filled in 97 seats but
3 seats are in balance and they are to be filled in by the
respondent No.1, out of which, 2 seats are from the Open
category, whereas, 1 is from S.E.B.C. category.
We, therefore, directed the petition to be re-notified
today for obtaining necessary instructions by Mr. Gaikwad,
the learned counsel, for respondent No.1, as regards the
position on merits and Mr. Gaikwad, in the morning hours
has placed before us Provisional Seat Matrix for B.Sc.
(Nursing) course in Govt./Govt. Aided/Corp./Private/
Minority Colleges for the 5th round. He has also placed
before us a quota-wise list of first and last admitted
candidates in Nursing Government Aided Colleges and as
far as the respondent No.2-college is concerned, we have
noticed that there is not a single seat vacant for SC category.
However, since Mr. Ingole, the learned counsel
representing the petitioner, on previous date, had made a
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categorical statement before us, which we have recorded in
our order dated 8th October 2024, that the petitioner is ready
to take up a seat from Open quota.
7. In light of this statement, we assessed the position of the
petitioner, since by no stretch of imagination, we intend to
offer admission to the petitioner by depriving admission to a
person, who has scored more marks than him.
We have perused the data submitted by Mr. Gaikwad,
from which we have noted, in specific that the last candidate
admitted from the Open category in the respondent No.2
college, has secured a percentile of 97 and his ranking is 889.
As against this, the petitioner has secured a percentile as
98.7 and his ranking is 399.
8. We had noted that the petitioner, despite securing a
percentile score and offered a seat in the respondent No.2
college in round-II, did not furnish the DD and has candidly
admitted that he was unaware that even a cheque could have
been furnished, if the bank was closed on 7th and 8th
September 2024, due to the public holidays and the bank
being closed on 9th September, 2024.
We do not, therefore, find it appropriate to deny the
benefit of admission to the petitioner in the B.Sc. Nursing
course and since we are today informed that a seat from the
Open category in respondent No.2-college is not filled in till
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date, we deem it appropriate to allow the petition by
directing that the petitioner, who is kept away from a seat in
B.Sc. Nursing course, merely on the ground that he was
unable to pay the fees in time and we deem it appropriate to
allow the writ petition by directing the respondents to
confirm his admission from the Open category in the
respondent No.2-V.S.P.M.S. Madhuribai Deshmukh
Institute of Nursing Education, Nagpur and we had already
passed the operative part of the order and directed to be
uploaded, which shall be read as a part of this order to the
following effect :-
"As directed by us, Mr.Gaikwad, representing the
respondent No.1 has produced before us the relevant
data reflecting the quota-wise list of first and last
admitted candidate in Nursing Government aided
Colleges upto round four.
Since Mr.Deo, learned Counsel appearing for
the respondent No.2 has made a categorical statement
before us that out of 100 seats available 97 seats were
filled in whereas 03 seats were vacant of which 01 was
belonging to S.E.B.C. category and 02 seats of Open
category remained unfilled.
Mr.Gaikwad, has placed before us the chart has
also reflected the position in respect of respondent No.2
V.S.P.M.S. Madhuribai Deshmukh Institute of Nursing
Education, Nagpur and we have taken note of the fact
that no seat from Scheduled Caste category in the said
College is vacant. However, when we turn our attention
to the Open category candidates, who are admitted in
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the said College, we have noted that the candidate with
the percentile of 99 with rank of 153 was admitted
being with the highest score, whereas candidate with the
lowest score in the Open category was the one at merit
list 889 with percentile at 97. As far as the petitioner is
concerned, since he has scored 399 ranking with 98.7
percentile, for the reasons separately recorded, we direct
the respondent Authority to allot the seat of Open
category V.S.P.M.S. Madhuribai Deshmukh Institute of
Nursing Education, Nagpur before the declaration of
the list of fifth round, which is scheduled tomorrow.
The aforesaid directions shall be implemented
by the respondent Nos.1 and 2, and in addition, since
we permitted the petitioner to implead Director of
Medical Education and Research as respondent No.3,
the directions shall also bind the respondent No.3."
9. The Rule is made absolute in the above terms. No costs.
[ABHAY J. MANTRI, J] [BHARATI DANGRE, J]
Signed by: Mr. Niranjan Thawre
Designation: PA To Honourable Judge
Date: 11/10/2024 19:59:42
ND.THAWRE PA
