AIIMS Admission Pattern Is 'Irresponsible'-says HC

The High Court of Delhi yesterday stated AIIMS admission criteria as 'Irresponsible', based on a clause in the prospectus due to which a candidate was denied admission in its Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) course despite a higher-ranked candidate opting out of the institute.

The court held this case on a plea of Dinesh Kumar Chopra, a Bachelor of Dental Surgery from a college here, that he had secured sixth rank in the examination held in July, 2012 (This year) for five general seats in MDS course and could not get the admission despite a student Devashish, ranked fourth, not taking the admission and joining some other institute, leaving one seat vacant.

AIIMS should not have carried forward the vacant seat to the next academic session and asked it to give admission to a student, who had secured sixth rank in the test, after the higher ranking selected candidate did not take admission; said the High Court.

The institute had five seats in the MDS course for general category students in the current academic session. When arguments took off a bench of Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said "We therefore find the clause aforesaid in the prospectus of AIIMS, to be 'irresponsible' and set aside the same and axiomatically direct the respondent AIIMS, subject to the petitioner satisfying other criteria, in order to admit the petitioner who admittedly is next rank holder to the course".

Writing the judgement Justice Endlaw, however, clarified that in future it would be open for AIIMS to prescribe that the admission will not be granted to a student, who is below a particular rank, even if the seats are left vacant.