NEET PG 2018: SC allows filling of vacant private medical seats through all India merit list

NEW Delhi, May 29 : The Supreme Court has allowed for the vacant PG seats in private medical colleges to be filled by candidates from all over India on the basis of the NEET PG merit list. In its directive to the Director General of Medical Education and Training, Uttar Pradesh, the apex court has directed that all vacant seats in the state’s private medical colleges be filled through an extended counselling round, and that the option to fill seats in this manner be made available for all other states as well. The last date of the NEET PG counselling process was May 18, 2018. However, due to a large number of seats remaining vacant, the extended round will now take place till May 31, 2018.

About the court order

The original Writ Petition (WP (C) No. 556/2018) in this regard, filed by the UP Unaided Medical Colleges Welfare Association, argued that since 41.95% of the seats in private unaided medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh were not filled for the academic year 2018-19, the Director General “must take the responsibility of allotting students from the All-India NEET Merit List in order of merit to the respective colleges by 31st May, 2018”. The two member Bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra found the suggestion of the Association to be “most appropriate” and directed the Director General to “assuage the grievance of the private medical colleges and open up new opportunity to the aspiring candidates in the merit list who otherwise could not secure admission in other medical colleges” in the “larger public interest”.

See an excerpt from the order below -

The Bench also appreciated the suggestion given by the Additional Solicitor General, (ASG) Pinky Anand, that a “similar dispensation can be followed in other States, if they so desire while ensuring that the cut-off date of 31st May, 2018 is strictly adhered to”.

As per the full order of the Supreme Court, candidates who were already allotted seats will not be permitted to resign from the college in which they have taken admission. The order also mandates that the responsible bodies strictly abide by the last date after which no request for extension of time for any reason whatsoever will be entertained. The copy of the order has now been made available on the official websites of MCI, Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) as instructed by the court.

A welcome move for candidates

In accordance with the order, the Office of the Director General has issued a notification inviting all eligible candidates who have not been admitted any seats through various counselling at All India and state level to apply for the vacant seats in Uttar Pradesh’s colleges. The move ensures that more candidates will be able to obtain admission to postgraduate medical courses and lesser seats will be wasted.

As per the notification, the registration facility for registrations in Uttar Pradesh will be made available from May 28, 2018. Non-domicile candidates can take admission to the private medical colleges while the UP domicile candidates can apply to the state’s Government medical college seats. This will be considered an additional mop-up round for students as the authorities had already conducted the mop-up round of counselling from May 10 to May 13, 2018. The new admission process will conclude on May 30 for the Government colleges and May 31 for the private medical colleges.

Similar to UP, a few other states have also taken up the option of conducting counselling for the vacant PG seats in their state’s colleges and invited applications for the same.