Ms Hruthvika Balachandra Raju vs Karnataka Examinations Authority ...
2026 Latest Caselaw 2950 Kant

Karnataka High Court

Ms Hruthvika Balachandra Raju vs Karnataka Examinations Authority ... on 6 April, 2026

                             -1-
                                              WP No.426/2026



     IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU

         DATED THIS THE 6TH DAY OF APRIL, 2026

                          PRESENT
        THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JAYANT BANERJI
                            AND
           THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.M.NADAF
        WRIT PETITION NO.426 OF 2026 (EDN-RES)
BETWEEN:
MS.HRUTHVIKA BALACHANDRA RAJU,
D/O.MR.BALACHANDRA RAJU,
AGED ABOUT 18 YEARS,
R/AT NO.5, LAKSHMI KANTHA NILAYA,
2ND CROSS, CHIKKAMRANAHALLI,
DOLLARS COLONY, RMV II STAGE,
BENGALURU-560 094.                               ....PETITIONER
(BY SRI ABHISHEK MALIPATIL, ADVOCATE)
AND:
1.     KARNATAKA EXAMINATIONS AUTHORITY (KEA),
       REP. BY ITS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
       SAMPIGE ROAD, 18TH CROSS,
       MALLESHWARAM, BENGALURU-560 012.

2.     THE STATE OF KARNATAKA,
       DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL EDUCATION,
       VIDHANA SOUDHA, BENGALURU-560 001,
       REP. BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY.

3.     NATIONAL MEDICAL COMMISSION (NMC),
       REP. BY ITS SECRETARY,
       POCKET-14, SECTOR-8, DWARKA PHASE-I,
       NEW DELHI- 110 077.

4.     THE OXFORD MEDICAL COLLEGE,
       HOSPITAL AND RESEARCH CENTRE,
       REP. BY ITS DEAN/PRINCIAL,
       YADAVANAHALLI, ATTIBELE HOBLI,
       ANEKAL TALUK, BENGALURU-562 107.

5.     MEDICAL COUNSELLING COMMITTEE,
       DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF HEALTH SCIENCES,
                                 -2-
                                                 WP No.426/2026



      MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE,
      GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, NO.354,
      NIRMAN BHAVAN, DELHI-110 011
      REP. BY ITS DIRECTOR                   ...RESPONDENTS

(BY SRI N.K.RAMESH, ADVOCATE FOR R1;

SMT.MAMATHA SHETTY., AGA FOR R2;

SRI H.R.SHOWRI, ADVOCATE FOR R3;

SMT.PAVITHRA S.G., ADVCOATE FOR R4;

SRI H.SHANTHI BHUSHAN, DSGJ FOR R5)

THIS WRIT PETITION IS FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226 AND 227 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, PRAYING TO ISSUE A WRIT OF MANDAMUS OR ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE WRIT, ORDER OR DIRECTION DIRECTING RESPONDENT NO.1 KARNATAKA EXAMINATIONS AUTHORITY TO ACCEPT THE SURRENDER OF THE MBBS SEAT ALLOTTED TO THE PETITIONER IN KEA ROUND-4 (STRAY VACANCY ROUND) FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2025-26 AND ETC.

THIS WRIT PETITION HAVING BEEN HEARD AND RESERVED FOR ORDERS COMING ON FOR 'PRONOUNCEMENT OF ORDER' THIS DAY, JAYANT BANERJI J., MADE THE FOLLOWING:

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JAYANT BANERJI and HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T.M.NADAF

CAV ORDER (PER: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JAYANT BANERJI)

The instant petition has been filed seeking the following

reliefs:

i. Issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction directing Respondent No.1 Karnataka Examinations Authority to accept the surrender of the MBBS seat allotted to the Petitioner in KEA Round-4 (Stray Vacancy Round) for the academic year 2025-26;

ii. Declare that the surrender of the MBBS seat by the Petitioner, having been sought within the same

counselling cycle and before finalization of admissions, is valid and binding, and that the said seat shall be treated as not consumed and liable to be re-allotted in accordance with law;

iii. Declare that the provisions relating to forfeiture of fees and absolute bar on surrender are inapplicable to the Petitioner's case, as the counselling process had not attained finality at the relevant point of time;

iv. Direct Respondent No.1 and the Respondent No.4 to refund and/or adjust all refundable fees paid by the Petitioner, including tuition fee and any other amounts, in accordance with KEA rules and guidelines, within a stipulated time-frame;

v. Direct Respondent No.4 - The Oxford Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Bengaluru, to return all original educational documents of the Petitioner forthwith, without insisting upon any penalty, No Objection Certificate, or undertaking;

vi. Declare that the Petitioner shall not be disqualified, debarred, or rendered ineligible to appear for NEET- UG 2026 or to participate in MBBS counselling conducted by KEA or any other competent authority for the subsequent academic year, on the ground of the present allotment or surrender;

vii. Declare that the action and inaction of Respondent No.1 in refusing to accept the Petitioner's surrender while accepting surrender of other similarly placed

candidates is arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India;

viii. Pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit in the facts and circumstances of the case, including costs, in the interest of justice and equity.

2. Petitioner is NEET-UG 2025 qualified candidate,

aspiring to pursue Medical or Dental Course through the

counselling conducted by respondent No.1- KEA1. Petitioner

submitted an online application to KEA and all the original

documents were verified. In the first round of counselling

conducted by KEA, the petitioner was allotted a BDS seat under

the NRI quota at M.S.Ramaiah Dental College, Bengaluru. The

petitioner reported to the said institution pursuant to the

allotment and paid the prescribed fees.

3. However after completion of the second round of

counselling and upon announcement of the third round of

counselling, the petitioner noticed that several MBBS seats

under the Management Quota had remained vacant and that

additional MBBS seats were also introduced for consideration in

the third round which were not available at the time when the

petitioner had exercised her options and frozen the BDS seat.

Karnataka Examinations Authority

4. To explore the possibility of securing an MBBS seat

without prematurely surrendering the BDS seat already

allotted, the petitioner submitted representations dated

08.10.2025 and 28.10.2025 to the KEA seeking permission to

participate in the third round of counselling while retaining the

existing BDS seat as a 'fall-back' option. The petitioner was not

permitted to participate in the third round of counselling.

Thereafter she was specifically informed by the officials of the

KEA that if she surrendered the BDS seat, she would be

permitted to participate in the final round of counselling for

MBBS seat. On the basis of such assurance, with a bona-fide

intention to pursue MBBS, the petitioner voluntarily

surrendered the BDS seat allotted to her. KEA accordingly

issued a seat cancellation/endorsement dated 28.10.2025

cancelling the BDS (NRI quota) seat allotted to the petitioner as

aforesaid bearing seat cancellation No.1673 and recording

refund particulars. The endorsement however contains a

condition that the petitioner would not be eligible to participate

in any further rounds of KEA counselling for the BDS course.

5. Due to a stay order passed by this Court in separate

proceedings, the third round was not conducted as per the

original schedule. It was conducted by the KEA belatedly only

after completion of all rounds of counselling by the MCC2

(Respondent No.5 herein) at the all India level.

6. Thereafter, KEA issued notifications dated

12.12.2025 and 15.12.2025 notifying the conduct of online

stray vacancy round of counselling for UG NEET-2025 for

vacant Medical and Dental seats. Pursuant thereto the option

entry and allotment process for a stray vacancy round was

conducted as per the schedule. The petitioner was permitted to

participate only in the stray vacancy round for MBBS seat. She

was allotted an MBBS seat on 17.12.2025 in respondent No.4-

College under 'OTH' (Other/Management Quota) category. An

admission order dated 17.12.2025 was issued by the KEA

stipulating that if a candidate wish to surrender, cancel or leave

the seat allotted by KEA, it must be effected only before KEA by

surrendering the original admission order. Mere non-reporting

to the allotted Institution shall not be construed as surrender of

the seat. It was also clarified that surrender at the Institution

level is impermissible and failure to surrender before KEA may

amount to blocking of seats.

7. The petitioner paid the prescribed fees as per the

directions of the KEA which is stated to be a sum of

Medical Counselling Committee

₹10,04,650/- towards KEA counselling/tuition fee on

16.08.2025 and a further sum of ₹42,00,000/- towards tuition

fee to KEA by a Demand Draft dated 21.12.2025.

8. The MCC issued a notice dated 17.12.2025

announcing the conduct of a Special Stray Vacancy Round of

UG counselling 2025, in view of the fact that several MBBS

seats had remained vacant due to non-joining/non-reporting of

candidates even after completion of the stray vacancy round. It

was notified that the special stray vacancy round would be

conducted in online mode for vacant MBBS seats and the said

round would be conducted jointly for MBBS, BDS and B.Sc

(Nursing) courses to ensure that precious medical seats do not

go waste. A detailed counselling schedule was also notified

which was to continue upto 10.01.2026.

9. The KEA issued an independent notification dated

16.12.2025 notifying conduct of online second stray vacancy

round of counselling for medical seats 2025. Yet another

notification dated 23.12.2025 was again issued by the KEA for

the same purpose. In view of the developments, the petitioner

sent a representation dated 24.12.2025 to the KEA seeking

acceptance of surrender of MBBS seats allotted to her in KEA

round four as well as for inclusion of the said seat in the

ensuing special/round five stray vacancy counselling, non-

forfeiture and refund of refundable fees. Also sought was return

of original documents and confirmation that such surrender

would not operate as a bar for NEET- UG 2026.

10. The KEA issued an updated notification of

26.12.2025 in which it was stated that the Principal of SDM

Medical College, Dharwad had informed KEA that one candidate

had withdrawn a seat at the institution level and on that basis

requested KEA to include the seat in the special stray vacancy

round of counselling scheduled on 29.12.2025. Acting on the

said request, KEA accepted the withdrawal and included the

SDM Medical College seat for allotment, notwithstanding the

fact that the concerned candidate had not surrendered the seat

before KEA.

11. It is submitted that no reply was sent in respect of

the petitioner's representation despite the petitioner having

personally met KEA officials on 24.12.2025 and repeatedly

remaining present at the KEA office on several subsequent

days. It is stated that the KEA proceeded to complete the

allotment process of the special stray vacancy round without

accepting the petitioner's surrender and without including the

MBBS seat allotted to the petitioner for re-counselling, thereby

foreclosing the possibility of the seat being allotted to otherwise

to another eligible candidate and rendering the petitioner

remediless.

12. The petitioner addressed an email dated

03.01.2026 to respondent No.4-College, forwarding the earlier

representations and correspondence addressed to KEA

reiterating that the request for acceptance of surrender was

pending consideration before KEA.

13. In response, respondent No.4 issued a reply dated

05.01.2026 addressed to KEA stating that the petitioner had

reported and completed the admission formalities, that the

request for cancellation had been forwarded to KEA for seeking

clarification from KEA as to whether cancellation was

permissible and, if so, requesting that a replacement candidate

be allotted at the earliest.

14. Yet another detailed representation dated

06.01.2026 was made to the KEA. However, the KEA failed to

issue any written reply or decision.

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15. It is the contention of learned Counsel for the

petitioner that the action and inaction of KEA is arbitrary and

discriminatory. On the one hand it accepted the withdrawal of

another candidate from SDM Medical College, Dharwad on

26.12.2025 and immediately included that seat in the special

stray vacancy counselling. While, on the other hand, detailed

representation dated 24.12.2025 moved by the petitioner was

not responded to at all. It is stated that the notification of the

KEA dated 26.12.2025 itself demonstrated that surrender of

seats was permitted during the counselling process and

included the surrendered seats in the special stray vacancy

round. It is submitted that the petitioner's surrender request

was made within the same counselling year and before

finalisation of the counselling, which is outside the

disqualification clause. The seat could have been reallocated. It

is submitted that the embargo in the participation in the

subsequent years in counselling would operate only where a

candidate consumes or blocks a seat for the academic year,

which was not the case in the case of the petitioner.

16. The KEA has filed its statement of objections. The

allotment of BDS seat to the petitioner, which was

subsequently cancelled, is admitted. It is also admitted that

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a stray vacancy round was conducted to fill up the remaining

unfilled seats in which the petitioner was allowed to participate.

She entered 31 options for the available seats and as per her

ranking and priority options entered on 15.12.2025 she was

allotted a seat in respondent No.4-College. The petitioner had

accepted the seat by downloading the admission order and paid

the prescribed fee and joined the allotted college. Her name

was also sent by the KEA to the MCC on 17.12.2025 along with

a list of already admitted students. It is stated that with this

process the entire admission process of the petitioner to the

adopted college was completed; that under the circumstances

there is no provision to surrender the seat after completion of

the admission process and therefore she is not entitled for

refund of the fee or for granting any undue relaxation of norms.

17. As regards the Special Stray Vacancy Round of

Counselling in respect of vacancies in three medical colleges, it

is stated by the KEA that the petitioner is trying to take

advantage of this opportunity to contend that the counselling

process had not attained finality and the process is a continuing

one. It is stated that each round of counselling is a separate

round and fresh option entry was permitted to those students

who are eligible to participate in the stray vacancy round.

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18. As regards the vacant seat arising in the SDM

College, it is stated by the KEA that one student who was

admitted in the second round had withdrawn from the course

on medical ground. Therefore the request was made for filling

up the seat. Accordingly, the KEA included that seat of SDM

College as all the seats available in all colleges had to be filled

up only through a single counselling agency in terms of

Regulation 12 of the Graduate Medical Education Regulation,

2023 within the stipulated last date for admission. Since the

vacancy had arisen before the last date for admission stipulated

by MCC which was 10.01.2026, the KEA conducted the Special

Stray Vacancy Round of counselling on 29.12.2025 for 8 vacant

seats in 3 medical colleges and allotted all the vacant seats to

eligible students on 29.12.2025. Thereafter, KEA did not

conduct any counselling. It is stated that the vacancy that

arose in SDM College is not a case of surrender by a candidate,

but it is a case of abandonment of the course by a candidate

after taking admission.

19. It is stated that the petitioner's request dated

24.12.2025 for surrender of the seat was not considered as she

had completed the admission process and her name was

included in the list of completed admission on 17.12.2025.

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Having participated in the counselling and having selected a

seat of her choice, it is stated that the petitioner cannot seek

surrender of the seat at this juncture. Had she not participated

in the counselling, any other eligible interested student would

have taken the seat allotted to the petitioner. It is stated that if

such an indulgence is granted, it would create a precedent

where students, after completion of the admission process,

start surrendering the seats and seek a fresh round of

counselling which would result in unsettling the entire settled

counselling process for admission to professional courses.

20. A statement of objections has also been filed on

behalf of the Respondent No. 2 in which it is stated that the

Respondent No. 2 is a formal party. The Department of medical

education, through the directorate of medical education, only

draws up and prepares a seat matrix every year for counselling

and admission to MBBS seats in the state. This information is

conveyed to the KEA which, in turn and on its own, carries out

the process of counselling and admission to MBBS seats.

21. A perusal of the record reflects that the additional

bulletin, which is enclosed as Annexure A to the petition,

containing the Instructions and Guidelines to apply online,

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verification pertaining to UGNEET - 2025 admission to Medical,

Dental, Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy courses for the year

2025 was published by Respondent No.1-KEA. As reflected in

the preamble to the bulletin, KEA was inviting applications

online from the eligible candidates who have qualified UGNEET

2025, for admission to Medical/Dental courses in Government

Medical and Dental Colleges, Government quota seats in Private

and Minority Medical and Dental colleges and all seats in Private

Medical and Dental Colleges (KPCF, KRLMPCA, AMPCK) located

in the State of Karnataka for the academic year 2025 - 26. It is

mentioned therein that centralised counselling for the seats to

be notified by the Karnataka State government, in

Government, KPCF, KRLMPCA, AMPCK institutions, the

admissions would be as per the Karnataka Selection of

Candidates for Admission to Government Seats in Professional

Educational Institutions Rules, 20063, as amended from time

to time and as per the guidelines of MCI/DCI/Ministry of Health

and Family Welfare/Government of India/Medical Education,

Karnataka/Director Medical Education, Karnataka/Entrance Test

Committee.

Karnataka Rules 2006

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22. There is a disclaimer stating that the details and

instructions contained in this information booklet (bulletin) are

subject to the rules and government orders. In case of any

discrepancy, the rules shall prevail and the decision of

NMC/MCC/DCI/Government/Competent Authority/Universities/

Karnataka Examinations Authority/Entrance Test Committee

shall be final.

23. The important information provided in the bulletin

states that a candidate may have option to select

medical/engineering etc, seat in other boards. In case such

candidate wishes to confirm the seat selected from other

boards then such candidate who has also been allotted a seat

through KEA has to surrender the seat allotted by KEA before

the last date fixed for modifying of options of 2nd round of seat

allotment, failing which it may amount to blocking of seat and

KEA may initiate action/proceedings against such candidates. It

was also stated that if a candidate decides to surrender the

seat, he/she has to surrender the seat only to KEA in writing.

24. The online application form of the petitioner has

been filed. She has applied as NRI-Ward. In the letter dated

8.10.2025 the petitioner wrote to the Executive Director of the

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KEA that after she had frozen the BDS seat under the NRI

quota in the First Round, KEA announced the addition of new

MBBS seats just before Round 2. She requested permission to

participate in the Round 3 counselling to explore the available

options and to allow her to retain her existing BDS seat as a

fallback until a new allotment is confirmed.

25. Annexure D to the petition is the Seat Cancellation

Order of the petitioner in which it appears that the seat in

allotted course of BDS-NRI was cancelled by the KEA on

28.10.2025. It was stated that action would be taken to refund

the amount, if any. Annexure E1 is a notification dated

12.12.2025 of the KEA intimating that the date for entering the

options of the online Stray Vacancy Round of seat allotment for

admission to UG Medical and Dental seats for the year 2025

had been extended till 10.00 AM on 13.12.2025. Annexure E2

is a notification of KEA dated 15.12.2025 stating that the date

was extended till 11.00 AM on 15.12.2025 to enter the options

for the online Stray Vacancy Round of seat allotment for

admission to UG Medical and Dental seats for the year 2025,

and that the provisional result of the Stray Vacancy Round

would be 16.12.2025 after 11.00 AM. The schedule of further

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                 College                        Category             Fees
   M.V.J. Medical College and Research       OTH - 22 seats   ₹40,11,950/-
   Hospital,    NH-4,      Dandupalya,
   Kolathur, Channasandra, Bangalore
   Mahadevappa     Rampure     Medical       OTH - 04 seats   ₹39,11,950/-
   College,   Mahadevappa     Rampure
   Marg, Kalaburgi

                  College                     Category            Fees
    M.V.J. Medical College and Research     OTH     -    05   ₹40,11,950/-