PURVA KISHOR BALKE Vs. STATE OF M. P.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present writ petition seeking permission to participate in counselling in ST Category instead of UR / NRI quota. According to the petitioner, she belongs to the Schedule Tribe Category and permanent resident of the Tribal area i.e. District - Jhabua (M.P.). She has passed Higher Secondary Examination in academic session 2019 - 20 in the stream of Biology as ST student. She appeared 2nd time in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test 2021 (NEET) under ST Category. The admit card was issued by the respondents under ST category. Thereafter, a score card was issued, showing her ranking 4540th under ST Category and 224236thall India rank. A merit list for the State of M.P. was published, in which her rank is 4743. The petitioner filled a form to participate in the counselling on 24/1/2022 through online portal but due to inadvertence, she has wrongly selected a category under UR / NRI quota instead of ST Category. This mistake came to her knowledge on 25/1/2022 and she immediately submitted a representation to the respondents seeking permission to correct the category, thereafter approached this Court.

(2.) The respondents have filed a reply by submitting that the petitioner filed her registration form through MP OnLine on 22/12/2021 and the last date of registration was 21/1/2022. The petitioner had ample time to get the said mistake corrected on or before 21/1/2022. After closing the registration, there is no provision to correct the entry. It is further submitted that an advisory was issued for all the candidates on 21/12/2021 and as per Clause - 3, the time limit was fixed to correct all the entries. The respondents have placed reliance over Rule 6 of Madhya Pradesh Chikitsa Siksha Pravesh Niyam, 2018 which also prohibits that no such request for change or amendment of entries in the registration form would be considered after the cutoff date. However, Rule further provides that after the second round and last round of counselling (mop up) again the registration shall be opened and the students who could not get themselves registered earlier can apply for registration. The respondents have placed reliance over a judgment passed by Division Bench of this Court in the case of Arushi Mahant & Others v/s The State of Madhya Pradesh & Others (W.P. No.18699/2020), in which in similar circumstances, the Division Bench has dismissed the writ petition.

(3.) We have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.