On June 25, 2025, the Supreme Court awarded temporary relief to a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) 2024 aspirant who was denied admission by ICARE Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Haldia, West Bengal, despite having paid the full cost of Rs 27 lakh.

The court directed the institute to enable the student to attend postgraduate studies beginning June 26.

A bench of Justices KV Viswanathan and N Kotiswar Singh took note of the case's "peculiar facts" and ruled in favour of the petitioner, Courtbook reported.

“The petitioner being duly counselled and having paid fees on or before 20.03.2025 should be permitted to attend the college in the seat allotted,” the Bench said in its order.

According to the petitioner, despite the fact that the deadline for admission was March 20, 2025, he did not report to the college until March 27.

The delay, he claimed, was due to the college requesting additional money, which the institute rejected. Instead, the college claimed that admission was rejected because the petitioner failed to present his Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) card.

Despite all of this, the court determined that the petitioner was a properly informed applicant who paid the money online before the official deadline.

Given this, the court ordered the college to enable him to enrol in the Master of Surgery (General Surgery) course through the Private Management Quota, which was assigned to him during the West Bengal Medical Counselling Committee's Special Stray Vacancy Round.

Previously, the petitioner had petitioned the Calcutta High Court after the college denied admission. However, the high court dismissed the petition, citing the late reporting date. Dissatisfied, the student addressed the Supreme Court.

Advocate Varun Chandiok, representing the college, stated before the Supreme Court that the petitioner's seat remained vacant and had not been provided to anyone else.

Given these conditions, the Supreme Court issued an interim order permitting the student to attend school beginning June 26, 2025.