Bombay HC directs govt to issue orphan certificate to 2 students who wish to appear for NEET

The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to forthwith issue an 'orphan certificate' to two students, residing in a home for abandoned and orphaned girls in the city, so that they can appear for the NEET-2022 examination. A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Madhav Jamdar passed the order on May 6, a copy of which was made available on Wednesday, while hearing an application filed by 'The Nest India Foundation' NGO, which runs the children's home.

The application stated that two residents of the home had applied to the Mumbai District Women and Child Development Office for issuance of the 'orphan certificate' in November 2020. The duo required the certificate to apply for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-2022 and admission in the MBBS degree course.

The petitioner's advocate, Abhinav Chandrachud, had argued that despite several trips to the office concerned and phone calls, the certificate was not issued. Government pleader Purnima Kantharia told the court that there were certain deficiencies and shortcomings in the applications and hence, the certificate had not been issued.

The court noted that the application for issuance of the orphan certificate was submitted in November 2020 and till date, no action has been taken by the authority concerned.

“It is also significant to note that from November 2020 till date, the authorities have failed to inform about the nature of deficiencies in the applications,” the court said.

The court directed the authority to issue and grant the orphan certificate to both the students within a period of one week.