The Karnataka High Court at Bengaluru, on 20 August 2025, directed Sri Siddhartha Medical College, Tumakuru, to pay a compensation of ₹15 lakh to a student who was illegally denied admission to the MBBS course in 2017 despite fulfilling all requirements.
Case Background
The petitioner, Sanjana V Tumkur, appeared for NEET-2017 and participated in counseling at Sri Siddhartha Medical College. She submitted her original certificates and paid ₹15,65,750 as the first-year fee. However, she was neither given an allotment letter nor acknowledgment. The college later demanded a bank guarantee for the balance course fee.
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Though Sanjana submitted the bank guarantee of ₹52,50,000 on 8 September 2017, the institution refused admission, claiming that all seats were already filled. The petitioner later discovered that candidates with lower NEET ranks were admitted in her place.
Acknowledging the mistake, the Chancellor of the University issued a letter on 11 October 2017, assuring her a free medical seat for the 2018-19 academic year. Despite repeated representations, the college failed to honor this assurance.
Justice Anu Sivaram and Justice K. Manmadha Rao held that the college acted in an “arbitrary and illegal manner” by denying admission to a more meritorious candidate and allotting seats to less qualified students.
The Court observed:
“In the absence of any provision mandating a bank guarantee for the entire course, the action of the institution in denying admission to the petitioner and granting it to a less meritorious candidate is per se arbitrary and illegal.”
Relying on Supreme Court precedents, the Bench noted that a student cannot be victimized due to the fault of institutions.
The High Court ruled that Sanjana was not at fault and had complied with all requirements. It concluded that she was entitled to compensation for the loss and mental agony suffered.
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We fix the compensation at ₹15,00,000, to be paid by respondent No.6 within two months, the Bench ordered.
With this, the writ petition was disposed of, and all pending interlocutory applications were dismissed.
Case Title: Sanjana V Tumkur vs State of Karnataka & Ors.
Case Number: Writ Petition No. 6014 of 2018 (EDN-MED-ADM)
