The Supreme Court, as a one-time exception has granted four medical students a lease of life by overruling a disqualification they had incurred by not qualifying in the mandatory common entrance examination (CEE).

A bench of justices Cyriac Joseph and Ranjana Prakash Desai allowed the students from Kerala to complete their MBBS course noting that they completed four and half years of their study beginning 2007. In these circumstances, the bench was inclined to invoke its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution as the case at hand provided an opportunity for doing “complete justice” in the matter.

Finding it an “eminently fit case” to invoke its special power, the apex court permitted the students who had incurred the risk of disqualification for failing to satisfy the eligibility criteria stipulated by Medical Council of India (MCI). The MCI regulations insisted on minimum 50 per cent marks in both the qualifying examination and Competitive Entrance Examination (CEE) separately. But the prospectus issued by the private medical colleges overlooked the CEE requirement.

Though these students secured more than 50 per cent marks in the qualifying examination, they could not secure the minimum 50 per cent marks required in the CEE. Irrespective of this, the colleges admitted them to the respective course.

After their demand was turned down by the Kerala High Court, the students approached the apex court to regularise their admission. Finding no fault of the students for a mistake that crept into the prospectus, the bench ruled, “We although agree with the view of the MCI and the High Court that the admissions of the appellants were irregular as they did not satisfy the requirement of securing not less than 50 per cent marks in the CEE as prescribed in the MCI regulations, we are inclined to take a considerate view in the special facts and circumstances.”