AYUSH Course Admissions Made Without NEET Merit Stand Regularized as a One-Time Measure Under Specific Conditions.

The petitioners (private medical colleges and students) challenged the validity of a Central Government Notification dated 03.01.2019 and amendments to the Indian Medicine Central Council Regulations dated 07.12.2018, which mandated NEET-UG merit for admissions to AYUSH undergraduate courses

During the 2019-20 academic session, several private colleges admitted students directly, bypassing the centralized counseling process, based on interim orders passed by the High Court which stipulated such admissions were provisional

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Union of India vs. Federation of Self-Financed Ayurvedic Colleges Punjab (2020), which upheld the NEET requirement but granted a one-time relaxation for students admitted before 15.10.2019, the petitioners sought regularization of their admissions and the declaration of their examination results

1. Whether the admissions granted to students in AYUSH courses for the 2019-20 session by bypassing the NEET counseling process could be regularized

2. Whether the provisional registration and subsequent examination appearances of these students remain valid in light of the Supreme Court’s one-time relaxation directive

The Court applied Section 22 of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970, which empowers the Central Council to prescribe minimum standards of education, including the conduct of uniform entrance examinations like NEET

It heavily relied on the precedent set by the Supreme Court in Union of India vs. Federation of Self-Financed Ayurvedic Colleges Punjab and others (2020) 12 SCC 115, which upheld the 2018 Amendment Regulations but exercised discretionary power under Article 142 to allow a one-time relaxation for students admitted prior to the cutoff date of October 15, 2019, due to peculiar circumstances and unfilled seats

The Court analyzed that while the legal challenge to the mandatory NEET notification failed based on established precedents, the primary concern was the status of students already enrolled

The Court noted that the University did not dispute that the students in question possessed minimum qualifications and were admitted prior to the 15.10.2019 deadline under the protection of various High Court interim orders

Regarding the specific objection in Quadra Institute of Ayurveda, where the interim order was passed later in February 2021, the Court reasoned that since the actual admission of those four students occurred before the 15.10.2019 cutoff, they were entitled to the same parity and benefit as other students under the Supreme Court's "one-time exercise"

Consequently, the Court found that the facts of these cases fell squarely within the protective umbrella of the Supreme Court’s relaxation directive

The Court directed the Uttarakhand Ayurveda University to treat the admissions as regular, declare the students' results, issue marksheets, and permit them to appear in any necessary back-paper examinations in accordance with the law. The writ petitions were disposed of with these directions.