Holding that sympathy by itself cannot be a ground for issuing any positive directions, more particularly when it comes to education, the Madras High Court refused to intervene in a plea seeking to extend the cut-off date for completing the one-year mandatory Compulsory Rotatory Residential internship (CRRI) as eligibility criteria to appear for NEET PG 2021.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh made the observation on a plea moved by a student. The petitioner said he had passed MBBS in September 2020 and was set to complete his one-year CRRI on October 4. But the cut-off date for completion of CRRI that was originally fixed for June 30 was regularly extended owing to the pandemic, and now it has been extended up to September 30. Due to this, he would miss the deadline by merely five days.
The student, Vishwajeet, sought the court to direct National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences and National Medical Commission to extend the time fixed for the completion of the one-year CRRI.
However, while noting that the court was sympathetic to the passionate claim that has been made by the petitioner, Justice Venkatesh said, “The cut-off dates are not fixed based on individual claims made and the board will have to take into consideration a wide range of options and take a decision.
“It will be very difficult for the courts to interfere into every decision that is taken on the administrative side, and fixing of a cut-off date is completely out of the purview of a writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution,” the court held.
The judge also pointed out that if such a claim was entertained, it would open the flood gates and every student who was unable to complete the internship on or before September 30 would approach the court seeking for a similar direction, which would only end up in chaos.
