The Delhi High Court said that even though the right to pursue higher or professional education is not clearly mentioned as a fundamental right in the Constitution but the government still has a responsibility to protect it and cannot take it away casually.

Granting relief to a medical student whose MBBS admission was cancelled over alleged issues linked to the NEET-UG 2024 exam, the bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh noted that a student’s right to continue professional education must be protected unless there are strong and genuine reasons to deny it.

"The right to pursue higher or professional education, even though not explicitly spelt out as a fundamental right in Part III of the Constitution of India, is an affirmative obligation on the part of the State to ensure this right and the same cannot be permitted to be curtailed lightly," the Delhi High Court said.

Case Brief:

In the said matter, the petitioner got an admission to the MBBS course at Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital in Balangir, Odisha, after obtaining an All India Rank of 28,106 in NEET-UG 2024. However, later, his admission was cancelled after the National Testing Agency (NTA) withdrew his result based on information shared by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In his order, Justice Singh noted that the petitioner had gained admission purely on merit through an open entrance examination, and that cancelling such admission would inevitably disrupt his academic journey.

The court also noted the CBI’s submission that the petitioner was not named as an accused in the chargesheet related to the alleged NEET-UG 2024 irregularities and had been cited only as a witness.

In these circumstances, Justice Singh held that there was no prima facie material to suggest the petitioner’s involvement in any wrongdoing that would justify the extreme step of cancelling his admission.

Accordingly, the Delhi High Court allowed the petition and directed the authorities to permit the petitioner to continue attending his MBBS classes as per the prescribed curriculum.