Orissa HC denies relief to NEET UG candidate who lost MBBS seat over technical glitch

The Orissa High Court dismissed a petition filed by a NEET UG candidate who sought compensation after being denied an MBBS seat at a government medical college due to an alleged technical glitch during the NEET UG 2022 counselling process.

In its verdict, pronounced on January 15, the division bench, comprising Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Savitri Ratho, concluded that there was a “disputed question of fact”. 

The petitioner, Aryan Swarup Parida, had secured an All-India Rank of 16,663, a category rank of 7,185, and a state rank of 599. However, he claimed that a technical glitch on the Medical Counselling Committee's (MCC) web portal prevented him from participating in the All-India Quota (AIQ) Mop-up and Stray Vacancy Rounds. Consequently, he missed the opportunity to lock his choices for government medical institutes.

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The Medical Counselling Committee, however, denied the existence of any glitch, stating that over 36,402 NEET UG candidates had successfully locked their choices on the scheduled date. The Orissa High Court observed that this presented a contradictory claim of facts.

Further, the court also noted that the AIQ counselling consisted of four rounds: AIQ Round 1, AIQ Round 2, AIQ Mop-up Round, and AIQ Stray Vacancy Round and Parida was unsuccessful in the first two rounds.

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He, however, alleged that the glitch occurred during the AIQ Mop-up Round and argued that candidates with lower ranks secured seats in government colleges while he was debarred from participating in the subsequent rounds.

The division bench, however, dismissed the plea, finding no merit in the application for compensation.