The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed West Bengal authorities to immediately consider the request of a NEET-UG qualified student for issuance of an EWS certificate, which he claimed was denied because his mother’s name did not figure in the voter list following the SIR exercise.

The court noted that petitioner Priyangshu Mukherjee, an MBBS course aspirant, cast his vote in the 2026 assembly elections.

Justice Krishna Rao directed the Additional District Magistrate, North 24 Parganas, to consider the request of Mukherjee, and pass an appropriate order.

The court directed that the certificate be issued on Monday itself if Mukherjee was found eligible under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category. The matter will be heard again on September 16.

Mukherjee’s lawyer stated before the court that the candidate’s document verification is due on Tuesday at SSKM Hospital, maintaining that without the EWS certificate, he will not be able to proceed for counselling.

The lawyer alleged inaction by the authorities and sought directions for issuance of the certificate to enable Mukherjee to participate in the MBBS counselling process.

The lawyer submitted that the issue before the court was whether exclusion of a parent’s name from the electoral rolls during the SIR could prevent issuance of an EWS certificate to a candidate whose own name figures in the 2026 voter list.

The EWS framework does not require a candidate’s parents to be enrolled in the voter list, the lawyer argued.

Mukherjee claimed to have scored 471 marks out of 720 in NEET-UG and secured a General-EWS category rank of 16,401.

Stating that his father expired in 2008, Mukherjee’s lawyer stated that his name appeared in the voter list of 2002, while the mother’s name was deleted in the 2026 SIR, though her maiden name appears in the 2002 SIR of electoral rolls.

The lawyer said she was listed as Kakoli Mukherjee before marriage and her name was changed to Rekha Mukherjee after marriage.