Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has rejected a plea made by a doctor to modify her category from General Merit to Other Backward Class (OBC) after the results announcement for the NEET PG 2025 exam.
A division bench headed by Justice D.K. Singh and Justice Venkatesh Naik held that after a candidate files his/her application under specific category and does not correct the same during the window period provided for correction, they cannot insist on the change of category after the results have been published.
“After a candidate has submitted his/her application form for NEET-UG/PG of a certain category and if he/she does not rectify the application form within the window allowed, he/she cannot subsequently move an application to alter the category after the result declaration,” the bench observed.
Background of the Case
Here’s a detailed explanation of the case:
- The petitioner, a physician who had appeared for the NEET PG 2025 examination, had originally registered in the General Merit category.
- Upon the announcement of the results on September 9, 2025, she went to the High Court on September 8, 2025, seeking permission to shift her category to OBC to benefit from reservation.
- Her lawyer cited the previous judgment in Dr. Lakshmi P. Gowda vs. National Board of Examinations, asserting that a negligible mistake in the category column should not end her life permanently without an opportunity to benefit from reservation.
- The plea was premised on the contention that the failure by the candidate to correct her form was not intentional and that she should be relieved to alter the category after results.
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Join NEET PG News 2025 Argument of Respondents
The respondents, NBEMS, Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), and Karnataka Higher Education Department, responded that the petitioner herself had the opportunity to correct her category details during the appropriate correction window, which was provided from March 9 to March 11, 2025.
Allowing her to make the correction after the results would compromise the integrity of the counseling session because she was unable to do it in that time frame.
They further contended that the post-result alterations under such circumstances would create a perilous precedent, which could destabilize the system of merit-based medical admissions.
Observation and Verdict of the Court
The High Court emphasized that no changes can be made to a category after the results of an examination have been made public by citing previous rulings, such as the Madras High Court decision in the case of Minor S. Jeyathinathan, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
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The petitioner took the exam as a General Merit candidate, the bench explained, and only after failing to get a seat did she attempt to change her category.
In this regard, the Court dismissed the writ petition, which stated that no alteration in category can be made after result announcement.
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