To err is human; Courts need to set high moral standards: HC

S Shyam Prasad | NT

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has allowed two candidates to correct the entry made in their applications before the national board of examinations in medical sciences, in which they had wrongly mentioned their caste category as general instead of OBC (Other Backward Classes).

The bench of Justice G Narendar and Justice Vijaykumar A Patil said, “As is well known to err is human, if that be the age old saying and if such minor errors cannot be condoned, despite the petitioner having been diligent in approaching for redressal, in our considered opinion, we would not be dispensing complete justice.”

The HC gave the judgement in two separate petitions filed by Dr Lakshmi P Gowda and Dr Vivek N. The two doctors had enrolled in the national eligibility cum entrance test-pg (NEET-PG) and completed the entrance examination.

They had secured all India ranking of 144331 and 125857 respectively. Both belong to the Vokkaliga caste which is categorized as OBC in Karnataka.

But while filling the application they had erroneously mentioned the category as “general merit”.

They approached the HC seeking a direction to the authorities to allow them to correct the category of caste in the application as they are eligible for reservation.

The deputy solicitor general opposed the petitions arguing “That such misplaced sympathy would result in a deluge and would have a catastrophic effect on the process.”

The HC in its judgement noted that “The question of the petitioner being permitted participation would depend on the fact as to whether he has obtained the qualifying marks.”

Therefore, the Court said that alteration of the list would not prejudice other candidates in the merit list. “Mere alteration of list will not prejudice any of the candidates found in the merit list. Sheer inadvertence should not be a ground to deny a candidate of an opportunity, if he is otherwise duly entitled on merit, for it would be contrary to the very objective of the NEET process itself, that is, an opportunity to the best of the lot,” the HC said.

Since the deputy solicitor general failed to demonstrate that altering the list would affect other candidates, the HC allowed the petitions filed by the two candidates.

The HC said, “The fact remains that to err is human and to be human is to be fallible and we disagree with the finding that it would have adverse effect on the aspirations of other candidates so long as there is no material to demonstrate that relief granted to the petitioner would disrupt the entire exercise, we deem it appropriate to grant the relief.”

(WP 12859/2023, WP 12797/2023)