MBBS Abroad 2021-22 Batch: Two Rule Books, One Petition

The MBBS abroad 2021-22 batch is governed by two different rule books, decided by the date each student's classes began. The NEET UG 2021 result came on 1 November 2021. New rules for foreign medical graduates began on 18 November 2021, seventeen days later. Counselling for Indian seats did not start until 19 January 2022. A Delhi High Court petition is asking for that split to be undone.

Key takeaways

• The Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations, 2021 came into force on 18 November 2021. Students who began classes before that date stay under the older 2002 rules. Students who began on or after it fall under the new ones.

• The new rules add conditions the old ones never had, including a twelve month internship at the same foreign university and a fifty four month minimum course length.

• The timing is the problem. NEET UG 2021 results were declared on 1 November 2021. All India Quota counselling for Indian seats ran from 19 January 2022, and the last date to join a seat was 26 March 2022. So one exam cohort was split across two rule books by nothing more than when each family gave up on an Indian seat.

• The petition is W.P.(C) 6035/2026 in the Delhi High Court, filed by Saurav Kumar and others. It asks the court to treat the whole 2021-22 batch as one group and keep them under the 2002 rules.

• There is no interim order. The 2021 rules apply to everyone in the batch today, including the students who filed the case.

Why does 18 November 2021 matter so much?

Because it is the day the rule book changed, and the rules themselves say so.

Regulation 5 of the 2021 regulations is the clause that draws the line. It says the new rules do not apply to foreign medical graduates who already had their degree before the rules came into force, or to candidates who were already studying abroad before that date. Those students, it says, shall be governed by the erstwhile applicable regulations. Erstwhile simply means the ones that came before.

The Commission's own frequently asked questions on the 2021 regulations put a date on it. Question 4 says the regulations do not apply to students pursuing their undergraduate medical education in foreign institutions prior to 18 November 2021, and that those students shall be governed by the previously applicable regulations.

So the date is not a matter of interpretation. It is written down.

What is the difference between the two rule books?

It is much bigger than most families realise.

Read the internship row again. Under the 2002 rules there was no requirement to do an internship abroad at all. Under the 2021 rules it is twelve months, and it has to be at the university that awarded the degree. For a student who could not stay in the country they had joined, that single row can end the plan.

How did the MBBS abroad 2021-22 batch end up on both sides?

The scale matters here. The National Testing Agency recorded 15,44,275 candidates appearing for NEET UG 2021. India had 89,974 MBBS seats approved for that academic year outside the institutes of national importance, which works out at roughly 17 candidates for every seat. So a very large number of families were looking abroad in exactly the months this rule change was happening.

Look at the official dates for NEET UG 2021, in order.

Dates for the exam and the result come from the National Testing Agency press release declaring the NEET UG 2021 result. The counselling dates come from the Medical Counselling Committee schedule for 2021 admissions.

Now put a family into that timeline.

A family who saw the result on 1 November, decided their child's score would not get a seat, and sent them abroad that same month is under the 2002 rules. No internship abroad. No English medium condition. No ten year limit.

A family who did the responsible thing, waited for counselling, went through all four rounds, missed out at the last date on 26 March 2022 and only then looked abroad is under the 2021 rules. Every extra condition applies to them.

Same exam. Same year. Same score range. Different rule book, because one family waited for the government's own counselling process to finish.

What is the petition actually asking for?

The case is W.P.(C) 6035/2026, Saurav Kumar and Ors versus Union of India and Anr, before Justice Jasmeet Singh. The National Medical Commission is the second respondent. The order of 4 May 2026 on the Delhi High Court case status record sets out the prayers in the petitioners' own words. A prayer is simply what a petitioner asks the court to order.

The second prayer is the heart of it:

A single homogeneous class means one group of people who are alike in every way that matters, and who therefore should be treated alike. The argument is that everyone who took admission abroad during the 2021-22 session belongs to the same group, whatever month they joined.

The other prayers ask the court to declare that the 2002 regulations applied to the whole NEET UG 2021 batch, to relax the 2021 regulations for that session, to exempt them from the year of internship abroad, and to let them be governed by the 2002 rules until the case is decided.

Where has the case reached?

The court issued notice on 4 May 2026. Since then the case has been listed fourteen times without the government stating its position.

On 20 August 2026 the Centre's counsel said she was going to have a meeting with the department. On 25 August 2026 she said the issue will be considered. Neither is a reply on record.

On 18 September 2026 the court gave the petitioners three directions. They must file a sworn statement saying how many of them were unable to travel between 18 November 2021 and March 2022. That statement must also show there were no flights going to the countries where they had taken admission. And whoever is running the case must show that all the other petitioners authorised them to do it. The case was listed again for 25 September 2026.

Two things follow from that. The court is looking for evidence that these students were genuinely stuck, not simply late. And the number of petitioners is not settled, which is why the court asked for it.

There is still no interim order. Nothing protects the batch while the case runs.

What should a 2021-22 student do now?

1. Establish your own date first. Not the date you paid, and not the date you flew. The date your classes actually began is what Regulation 5 turns on. Your university can confirm it in writing.

2. Get that confirmation on letterhead. A State Medical Council will ask for proof, not for your recollection.

3. Collect your travel record now. Passport stamps and visa pages are what the Delhi High Court has just asked this batch to produce. If you were stuck in India during that window, the proof of it is worth keeping safely.

4. If you fall under the 2021 rules, plan for them. Assume the twelve month internship abroad applies to you and check with your university where it will be done. Do not build a plan around a petition that has no interim order.

5. Watch the case, but do not wait on it. Nothing in this petition changes anything until a court says so.

What to read next

• Which NMC rules apply to you shows you how to establish your own commencement date and prove it.

• The internship abroad rule in court covers the condition this batch is fighting hardest.

• NExT or FMGE in 2026 explains which exam you sit after a foreign degree.

• How to check NMC and WDOMS recognition shows you how to run the rules against your own university.

• Eligibility for MBBS abroad covers the NEET and Eligibility Certificate conditions that sit before all of this.

• MBBS in Ukraine looks at the country where this batch was hit hardest.

• Is MBBS abroad worth it puts the exam evidence next to the rules.