The Madras High Court Bench here has modified an order passed by it on June 5 directing Velammal Medical College Hospital and Research Institute (VMCHRI) here to pay a compensation of Rs.3 lakh each to three students for having denied MBBS admission to them “mischievously” during the academic year 2013-14.
Disposing of a writ appeal filed by the college against the direction to pay compensation and another appeal filed by E. Sneha Preethi, one of the three students, through a common order, a Division Bench of Justices M. Jaichandren and R. Mahadevan recorded the submission of the college that it would admit the student in the academic year 2014-15.
The judges said that the appeals were being disposed of without going into the merits of the compensation ordered by a single judge of the High Court since the college had represented that it was ready to admit the student in the current academic year and the counsel for the student was also willing to accept the offer made by the college.
Passing a common order on writ petitions filed by the three students — the other two being Nihal Ahamed and R. Gayathri — last year, Justice K. Ravichandra Baabu had held that the college had played a “mischief” by sending admission call letters to them on September 29, just a day before the deadline set by the Supreme Court for admitting students in professional courses.
He agreed with the petitioners that they had lost their legitimate right to admission due to the conduct of the college, but held that he could not direct the institution to admit them in the month of June, 2014 since the deadline set by the apex court had expired. Admissions made beyond the cut-off date would amount to contempt of court, the judge had said.
Nevertheless in order to compensate the loss suffered by the students, he had directed the college to pay damages at the rate of Rs.3 lakh for each student.