Justice N Anand Venkatesh imposed the cost after dismissing a batch of pleas from 65 doctors challenging the discharge order issued by Medical Council of India (MCI) for obtaining admissions without obtaining allotment letter from CENTAC.

Even if some medical seats remain vacant, it would still be better than filling them up with unmeritorious candidates, the judge observed. “It is high time that courts start showing more seriousness in cases of this nature, particularly coming under medical education since the institutions and the candidates must be given a very clear message that any admission that is done in violation of the regulations will not be tolerated by the courts and that the courts will not deal with such cases with kid gloves.” Any misplaced sympathy shown by courts in the field of education, particularly medical education, would send a wrong signal to institutions and candidates, he stressed.

Taking a share of the blame on itself for having taken such a long time to hear these cases, the bench said the court should give priority and complete education cases as early as possible because the delay would lead to new cases as the candidate would have completed the course by virtue of an interim order and would claim equity before the court.

In the case in hand, the High Court had stayed discharge orders issued by the MCI in 2018 and the candidates were allowed to complete the course as a result. The cases came up again this year as the candidates wanted to attend the examination, and they were allowed by virtue of interim orders.

“If these cases had been heard and disposed of in 2018, this court would have simply had to look into the only aspect as to whether the admissions were made in accordance with the regulations,” the bench, and added: “This court must take a cue from this case and ensure that all education cases are disposed of within the same academic year in which it is filed by giving more priority to such cases.” The petitioners were discharged because their admission in 2017 was in violation of the mandate for common counselling under the MCI regulations. The medical colleges took advantage of the situation and manipulated seat allotment by not admitting candidates from the CENTAC merit list, found the court.

It imposed Rs 5 lakh each on Arupadai Veedu Medical College, Vinayaka Mission Medical College, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Venkateswara Medical College and Hospital, and Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, which should be paid within two weeks to charitable trusts, COVID-19 relief initiatives and the Cancer Institute at Adyar.