Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgement in Deepa Thomas Vs. Medical Council of India (MCI). The court held that a student can not be penalized for a mistake in prospectus. In case a college prescribes in the prospectus the minimum marks required in qualifying examination but inadvertently omits to mention the mandatory condition that the candidates should also secure atleast the prescribed marks in Common Entrance Examination, the students of the college cannot be expelled on the ground that the mandatory condition has not been fulfilled in particular when considerable time has elapsed since the admission.
In the instant case, it was mentioned in the college prospectus that minimum average marks in aggregate in physics, chemistry and biology in the qualifying exam like Sr. secondary, Intermediate or 10+2 should be at least 60%. However, the college inadvertently omitted to mention MCI's mandatory norm that apart from the minimum marks in qualifying exam, the students must also secure minimum average of 50% marks in physics, chemistry and biology in Common Entrance Test. The student who did not fulfill the MCI' mandatory norm were admitted and were in 5th year of their course, having passed the exams conducted in first four years. The court gave judgement in favour of the students allowing them to continue the course despite they not meeting the MCI's mandatory norm.