200 Dental Students' Petitions: Supreme Court Addresses De-recognition Concerns

On Monday, the Supreme Court of India issued a notice to the Central and Rajasthan governments in response to a batch of petitions filed by around 200 dental students of Ardeshna Jeshika & Ors v. State of Rajasthan & Ors. The students are facing the risk of de-recognition by the Dental Council of India.

The hearing was conducted by a Bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar.

The petitions challenge a May 5 Rajasthan High Court order that had upheld a single-judge decision to discharge the students from their undergraduate courses for being admitted with relaxations in percentile.

The High Court had imposed costs of ₹50 lakh on the colleges that had made such admissions due to a shortfall in seats in the academic session that started in 2016. The permission for such admission had been granted to the Federation for Private Medical and Dental Colleges of Rajasthan.

Candidates who did not meet the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) cut-offs were allocated seats in colleges based on a reduced percentile threshold.

In October 2016, the Central government requested the State to withdraw and cancel such admissions. Thereafter, the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences declared that the appellants and other similarly-placed students were retrospectively ineligible for admissions. Although the students approached the Rajasthan High Court for relief, a single-judge declined to entertain the plea. This order was later upheld by a division bench of the High Court, which held that any such move would impact medical education at large.

The Supreme Court Bench hinted that if any relief is granted, it will protect those students who have already been registered with the Council and who have cleared the pre-requisite criteria to qualify as dentists. Notice was also issued to the Dental Council of India.

The appellants are now awaiting the response of the Central and Rajasthan governments as well as the Dental Council of India. The Supreme Court will review the responses and decide whether to grant the students the relief they are seeking. The outcome of this case will have a significant impact on the future of the appellants and other similarly-situated students.(alert-passed)