The Bombay high court relied on and cited a Supreme Court ruling issued in February 2022 during the hearing of the petition filed by the counsels, Mr. V M Thorat and Mr. Madhav Thorat. The Bombay HC noted that withdrawing a medical degree after the said doctor used a forged caste certificate to get admission at a Parel college would have "serious consequences". They added that the withdrawal of the medical degree would be "a serious loss to the nation as well," since taxpayers’ money is used to subsidize education in government colleges.

In 2020, Dr. Mohammed Khan petitioned the HC to challenge a letter from Parel College directing him to deposit the penalty as he had submitted a forged ST certificate while securing MBBS admission in 2010-11. The letter noted that a proposal had been submitted to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences in Nashik to cancel his degree.

Mr. Thorat stated that the petitioner was a minor when he took admission and it was the fault of the person who "after verifying" his father’s documents had opined that they belonged to the category. He went on to say that Mr. Khan had scored 173 out of 200 on the MH-CET and cited clause 24 of the entrance exam 2010 brochure to show that he could have gotten into a government medical college in the open category.

Mrs. Purnima Kantharia, a government pleader, seeking dismissal of the petition, stated that the petitioner could never have gotten admission to Parel College but maybe to some other institute outside Mumbai. She added that his degrees should be taken away as he "knowingly" submitted a false validity certificate.

On the other hand, the HC stated that if the petitioner is found guilty of obtaining a forged validity certificate, he will certainly face the consequences in the criminal case.