NEET PG 2024: MCC debars 242 aspirants for failing to join college, collects Rs 1.21 crore

NEW DELHI: This year, a total of 242 medicos will not be allowed to appear in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Postgraduate (NEET PG 2024) as they failed to report to the allotted medical college in the special stray vacancy counselling round last year, as per the RTI reply from the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC). NEET PG exam 2024 is scheduled to be held on July 7.

The MCC conducts four rounds of NEET PG counselling for admission to PG medical courses. A special stray round is conducted to fill the remaining vacant seats. To participate in the special counselling round, candidates will have to pay an additional fee of Rs 50,000 as security amount. In case a candidate fails to report to the allotted college before the deadline, the amount will be forfeited and will be debarred from appearing in the subsequent entrance exam.

The MCC NEET PG counselling rule states: “In case, a candidate has participated in Special stray vacancy round wherein he/she has been allotted a seat & fails to report to his/her allotted college. Such a candidate may be debarred from participating in upcoming NEET-PG examination & counselling 2023-24 along with forfeiture of Rs. 50,000.”

An undertaking is also taken from the candidates. As per this rule, 127 candidates were debarred from taking the NEET PG 2023 exam and the total amount of Rs 63,50,000 was collected.

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The MCC had not revealed the number of candidates debarred from NEET PG 2024, however, the RTI reply filed by Vivek Pandey, health activist, stated that 242 candidates will not be allowed to take the exam. This also means, Rs 1,21,00,000 (Rs 1.21 crore) was collected from these candidates.

“Excluding students from upcoming examinations and counseling proceedings entails a significant loss of a valuable academic year, inflicting considerable distress upon aspiring individuals. While it is appropriate for the government to impose fines as a punitive measure, such penalties should remain within the bounds of affordability for the individuals involved. However, the act of debarring students constitutes a direct infringement upon their fundamental right to education,” Vivek Pandey told Careers360.