No relief for Mumbai teenager who lost medical seat

The state was unable to provide an alternate seat in a government medical college to the 18-year-old girl who was denied a seat in Grant Medical College on the grounds that she had submitted a fake domicile certificate to secure her admission. After it was proved that an employee of the E-Seva Kendra, the government portal, was responsible for the fake certificate and not the girl, the Bombay high court had directed the state to see if it could provide a seat in any government medical college in the state by 5pm on Friday, which incidentally was also the last date for completing all admissions to government medical colleges as per a Supreme Court order.

On Thursday, the bench of justice BR Gavai and MS Karnik had directed the state to reply on Friday whether the girl’s wish that the seat she had secured in Grant Medical College as per the national merit list, be reinstated could be fulfilled. In response to the direction, the state informed the bench on Friday through advocate SS Patwardhan that seats in all government medical colleges had been filled and there was no vacancy.

The bench then observed, “We are prima facie of the view that the petitioner cannot be said to be at fault for cancellation of her admission.” The bench further added, “Taking into consideration that admission process would be ongoing till 5pm today, by way of ad-interim order we direct the respondent authorities to grant provisional admission to the petitioner in the event any vacancy arises in any of the Medical Colleges under Government/ Local Authorities in the State of Maharashtra.”

However, when HT contacted Bhise to know of the status of the state’s reply at 6.30pm, she said there was no communication with regards to the availability of a seat for her client.

The matter has now been posted for hearing on September 7.

First Published: Sep 01, 2018 08:36 IST