General Category Candidates Cannot Claim Reserved Seats In DNB/NEET Admissions: Delhi High Court Accepts NBEMS Appeal
The Court held that converting vacant reserved seats mid-way through NEET/DNB counselling creates inequality and prejudices more meritorious candidates who opted out.
The Delhi High Court has accepted an appeal by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) and held that an unreserved category candidate cannot stake a claim against a seat specifically earmarked for a reserved category in entrance-based postgraduate admissions (such as DNB PDCET/NEET-PG), holding that courts cannot direct the mid-process de-reservation of unfilled seats once the seat matrix has been declared and options have been submitted by candidates.
The Court observed that directing the conversion of reserved seats to open category after counselling options are locked would yield iniquitous results, as it benefits candidates who strategically opted for unavailable seats while denying opportunities to more meritorious candidates who refrained from selecting them.
The Bench also noted that with over a year having elapsed since the close of the 2025 admission session, granting admission at this belated stage would require reckoning the two-year training period afresh, delinking it from the original session and prejudicing attendance requirements as well as the 2026 admission batch.
A Bench comprising Justice Dinesh Mehta, acting on a reference made by a Division Bench following a split verdict dated May 18, 2026, observed, “…I am of the considered opinion that when a seat is reserved for a particular category, a candidate from general category cannot stake his/her claim against such seat. Though vice-versa is permissible, a reserve category candidate may stake his/her claim against other permissible categories and the candidate is to be accommodated as per his/her own merit and consequential adjustment as per prevailing law can be made”.
Advocate Waize Ali Noor appeared for the appellant and Advocate Amarjit Singh Bedi appeared for the respondent.
The respondent, Dr. Aditi Panwar, a general category candidate, appeared for the Diplomate of National Board - Post Diploma Centralized Entrance Test (DNB PDCET) 2025 for Radio-Diagnosis and secured rank 142. The published seat matrix reflected one Radio-Diagnosis seat at General Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula, reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Knowing no OBC candidate cleared the entrance test in that specialty, she selected the hospital as her top choice. She was allotted her second preference at a private institute, while the Panchkula seat remained unallotted. She subsequently approached the court seeking a mandamus to de-reserve the seat and grant her admission.
A Single Judge Bench on June 16, 2025, allowed the writ petition and directed the NBEMS to convert the OBC seat to the unreserved category. NBEMS filed an intra-court appeal, which resulted in a split verdict before a Division Bench on May 18, 2026. Consequently, the Chief Justice referred the question of whether the Single Judge was correct in directing the de-reservation of the seat to the present Bench for final determination.
Resolving the reference, the Court held that general category candidates cannot claim reserved slots as of right. The Bench noted that if a vacant seat is de-reserved after counselling options are submitted, more meritorious candidates who opted for other institutions under the impression that the reserved seat was unavailable are unfairly prejudiced.
Furthermore, the Court highlighted that as per the 15th Accreditation Committee decision dated August 9, 2024, vacant DNB Post-Diploma seats are transferred to the three-year Post-MBBS pool, ruling out complete seat wastage. The Bench also stressed that over a year had elapsed since the 2025 session closed, making belated admission impractical.
The Court answered the reference in the negative, set aside the Single Judge order, accepted the appeal filed by NBEMS, and dismissed the writ petition. However, to prevent future seat vacancies without disrupting counselling integrity, the Court issued a prospective direction ordering NBEMS to ensure that if no candidates clear the entrance examination in a reserved category, necessary approvals must be obtained to de-reserve such seats before the seat matrix is finalized and options are filled
Cause Title: National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences v. Dr. Aditi Panwar and Others (Neutral Citation: 2026:DHC:6089)
Appearances:
Appellant: Waize Ali Noor, Mrinal Kumar Sharma & Zillur Rahman, Advocates.
Respondent: Amarjit Singh Bedi, Varun Chandiok, Riya Sethi & Armaan Sharma, Amit Meharia, Abinash Agarwal, Priya Bhalerao, Vibhor Victor, Mukul Singh, Advocates.