Vineet Tripathi, New Delhi. Allowing the plea of a NEET-UG student, the Delhi High Court ruled that the right to pursue higher or professional education is a fundamental right of an individual and cannot be allowed to be curtailed. A bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh said that petitioner student Harshit Aggarwal was given admission in the college on the basis of his merit and if it is to be cancelled, there should be some valid, genuine and concrete reasons for the same.
There can be no prima facie conclusion
The bench said that the Central Investigation Agency (CBI) has also admitted that petitioner Harshit Aggarwal was not an accused but only a witness. This makes it clear that there can be no prima facie conclusion of any misconduct by him. The bench said that the precious right acquired by the petitioner by clearing the NEET-UG entrance examination needs to be protected as the move of canceling the admission and removing the name of the petitioner from the MBBS course is hampering his studies for completely wrong reasons. With the above observation, the court directed the authorities to allow Harshit Aggarwal to continue his MBBS classes as per the curriculum.
included in the list of students
Harshit Aggarwal had given the NEET-UG 2024 examination held on May 5, 2024. He was admitted to the MBBS course at Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital, Balangir, Odisha. He got All India Rank 28,106 and General Category Rank 11,234. In the petition, the petitioner had sought direction to the National Testing Agency (NTA) to allow him to join the MBBS class. The petitioner said that a similar order should be issued in his favor as was given to another student. Which was also included in the list of students expelled from MBBS course.
charge sheet already filed
The petitioner's names were dropped after investigation by CBI in the paper leak case. Harshit had argued that despite being in the doubtful list, the second candidate was allowed by the Supreme Court to continue his studies and appear for the semester examinations. CBI had also summoned Harshit Aggarwal regarding irregularities in the examination.
However, she responded to the NTA's show cause notice, but her scorecard was withdrawn. After this the college canceled his admission. CBI argued that charge sheet has already been filed in the case and the petitioner was not an accused in the charge sheet and was only named as a witness.
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