Chhattisgarh HC cancelled admission of PhD student, says merit can’t be compromised

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh High Court has held that the ‘Rule of Merit’ cannot be compromised and obstructed by unreasonable time schedule for admission.
Referring to a decision of the Supreme Court, the bench of Justice Goutam Bhaduri said in his order, “The right of meritorious students to get admissions in postgraduate courses is fundamental and a human right which is required to be protected.And it cannot be whittled down at the instance of less meritorious students.”
Rajiv Pratap Singh, 24, had moved to the high court seeking the cancellation of admission given to the respondent Raj Kumar Das who was a waiting list candidate for the PhD course. He alleged that despite the fact that his name was in the merit list, a waiting list candidate was given admission.
The petitioner’s name was on the third number in the merit list of (Vishwa Vidyalaya Research Entrance Test) VRET category, whereas respondent Raj Kumar was in UR-Waiting list at first spot.
The order further stated that the selected list of students of PhD programme was uploaded by the university on the website on April 30, 2019, and the candidates were instructed to pay the prescribed fee on the same day. “Therefore, the inference can be drawn that on April 30, 2019, naturally after the office hours the result was uploaded and few hours were given to the selected candidates to pay the fee.”
The petitioner has said that he was not allowed to pay the fee and was asked to get a certificate from the University of Wardha. The same is verified by the University in their reply.
“The question which arises for consideration is as to whether the reasonable time was granted to the candidate to take admission?” the order noted.
The high court, in its order, said that if the facts are examined in the chronological order, the fault cannot be attributed to the petitioner. According to the advice of the university, he went to Wardha to furnish the required letter of M.Phil. The documents on record also show that the letter was e-mailed on April 30, 2019 itself. However, the university said that the process of admission got already closed by that time.
“The window of admission was closed in such a short span. Therefore, it was completely unreasonable and arbitrary and was a defective procedure and plus a man-made obstruction to shelve the merit. There cannot be any circumstances where the rule of merit can be compromised,” the high court ruled.
Allowing the petition, the court also cancelled the admission of Raj Kumar — the candidate on wait-list for course of PhD in Journalism and Mass Communication at Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya (GGU) Bilaspur. While the petitioner is given 10 days from the order date ie May 17,2019 to join the course subject to the submission of requisite papers and fee as asked by the University.
The high court further directed the university to pay Rs15,000 to the petitioner as litigation cost.