Supreme Court favours reduction in NEET SS cutoff percentile for in-service doctors: Reports

The Supreme Court has said today that the NEET SS qualifying cutoff percentile for in-service government doctors in the states must be reduced, as they both serve the public and pursue higher studies simultaneously. The apex court said this while issuing a notice to restrain the Tamil Nadu government from surrendering 152 vacant in-service NEET SS medical seats reserved for in-service government doctors to the All India Quota (AIQ).

According to media reports, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Joymalya Bagchi issued a notice to the Centre, the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), National Medical Council (NMC), the Tamil Nadu government, Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), and others, seeking their responses on the petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association.

The apex court has listed the matter for further hearing on July 15, 2026.

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The petitioner also sought a restraining order from the SC directing the concerned authorities not to surrender the 152 vacant medical seats AIQ until the completion of NEET SS round 2 counselling.

Additionally, the plea has sought approval to allow in-service candidates in the state to compete for 152 surrendered seats during the MCC NEET SS round 3 counselling or mop-up round if their percentile falls below 50% after the AIQ round 2 admissions.

Delay in NEET SS Counselling

SC's directive comes after NEET SS counselling 2025-26 was delayed due to the SC case, Tamilvani and Others vs State of Tamil Nadu, concerning the status of in-service seats and their allocation under the state quota or AIQ category.

Udhayanidhi Stalin, the leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, had requested Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay to take appropriate measures to prevent the surrender of 152 super-speciality medical seats to AIQ.

Previously, MCC revised the round 2 seat matrix for NEET SS counselling and added 11 seats across multiple medical institutions while withdrawing two seats from a Telangana-based hospital.