Delhi HC Denies October FMGE Eligibility To Two Foreign Medical Graduates Over OBC Claims Made Six Years After Unreserved NEET

The petitioners appeared for NEET (UG) 2020 under the unreserved category, scoring 114/720 and 146/720 respectively, below the 147-mark qualifying threshold for that category.

They later relied on Tamil Nadu community certificates to claim that they should be treated as OBC candidates, for whom the stated qualifying threshold was 113 marks; the certificates did not establish OBC-NCL status under the Central List in the prescribed form.

After obtaining medical degrees in the Philippines in 2026, the petitioners applied for the October 2026 FMGE.

Their applications were found deficient for want of an Eligibility Certificate/NEET score card, but they did not cure the deficiency by the October 21, 2026 deadline.

They sought directions to accept their NEET (UG) 2020 score cards as deemed Eligibility Certificates and to issue admit cards, contending that they had qualified NEET under the OBC category.

Section 13(4A) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (reproduced in the judgment) required Indian citizens with foreign medical qualifications to qualify the prescribed screening test to be eligible for medical registration in India; Section 13(4B), read with the Screening Test Regulations, 2002 and the Foreign Medical Institution Regulations, 2002, established the eligibility-certificate framework for foreign medical education.

The 2018 amendment to Regulation 4 of the Screening Test Regulations, 2002 provided that qualifying NEET results would be treated as the Eligibility Certificate for Indian citizens or OCI candidates intending to obtain primary medical qualifications abroad, subject to the prescribed eligibility criteria; the same requirement was reflected in Regulation 8(iv) of the Foreign Medical Institution Regulations, 2002 and Clause 4.6.2 of the FMGE October 2026 Bulletin.

The NEET (UG) 2020 Information Bulletin made the category selected in the application final after the correction period and prohibited post-result changes; OBC-NCL reservation required recognition under the Central List and a certificate in the prescribed form.

The Court also relied on *Arunaditya Dubey v. Medical Council of India*, W.P. (C) No. 1205/2019, decision dated February 4, 2025, upholding the regulatory requirement for NEET as part of the eligibility framework.

The Court also relied on *Hanan Shajahan Chittothayil v. Union of India & Ors.*, W.P. (C) 12752/2025, on the impermissibility of post-deadline category correction and inequitable exceptions.

The Court held that the NEET result could serve as an FMGE Eligibility Certificate only if the candidate had qualified NEET.

The petitioners had applied as unreserved candidates and scored below that category’s qualifying threshold; they had neither sought correction within the permitted period nor produced the prescribed evidence of OBC-NCL status under the Central List.

Their later community certificates did not establish eligibility for OBC-NCL treatment, and the Bulletin barred changing category after the relevant deadlines.

Allowing a retrospective change six years after the result would undermine the finality and uniform application of the examination rules and confer an inequitable advantage.

The Court therefore found no basis to direct the respondents to treat the petitioners’ score cards as Eligibility Certificates.

It held that they were not eligible to appear in the October 2026 FMGE on the basis of those score cards, dismissed both petitions and the pending applications, and granted no relief.