SC Asks Centre to File Affidavit on 1,450 Vacant Seats in Neet-PG

The apex court has given 24 hours to the Union government and the MCC to file an affidavit indicating the position of total seats which have remained vacant.

The Supreme Court of India. Photo: Pinakpani/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Print, 8 June 2022, New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday, June 8 pulled up the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) for leaving more than 1,450 seats vacant in NEET-PG-21, saying it will not only put the aspirants in difficulty but would also lead to a dearth of doctors.

The apex court has given 24 hours to the Union government and the MCC to file an affidavit indicating the position of total seats which have remained vacant and the reasons as to why they were not filled up by the candidates.

It directed the counsel appearing for the Union government and MCC to file the affidavit during the course of the day and posted the matter for further hearing on June 9.

A vacation bench of Justices M.R. Shah and Aniruddha Bose was hearing a batch of petitions seeking a special stray round of counselling to fill the 1,456 seats which have remained vacant after the conduct of a stray round of counselling in All India Quota.

During the hearing, the bench said, “Even if there is a single vacant seat it should not have gone unfilled. It’s the duty of the Medical Council to see that these seats do not remain vacant. After every round of counselling, this is the same problem. Why cannot the process be streamlined? What do we get by leaving the seats vacant when we are in need of doctors? This will not only create problems for the aspirants but would also encourage corruption.”

It told the counsel appearing for the Union government and the MCC that why can’t there be a stress-less education system, where everything is streamlined.

“Do you even know the stress level of the students and their parents? Why during the midst of the counselling, you have been adding the seats. There is already a judgment of this court in this regard. There must be a cut-off date for the number of seats and how many admissions will be given,” the bench said.

The bench said that if the students are not given admission, it may pass the order in the matter and direct compensation to the candidates, who have been denied admission.

The bench then asked the counsel as to who is in charge of the admissions to which he replied that it is the (DGHS).

The bench asked the Director-General of Health Services – who is in charge of the admissions – to remain in the court on June 9.

Also read: Govt Report Says PHCs Have Surplus Doctors – But That’s Not the Full Story

It said, “It is the future of the students which is at stake here. First, you have to study hard and then you have to give the examination. Even if you get 99% marks in the examination, there is an admission problem. Then there is the super speciality problem. Do you even understand the situation of the students.”

A batch of petitions has been filed by doctors who have appeared in NEET-PG 2021-22 examination and have participated in rounds 1 and 2 of All India Quota (AIQ) Counselling and State Quota Counselling which was followed by All India Mop-Up and State Mop-Up Rounds and was concluded on May 7, 2022, by the MCC after the All India Stray Vacancy Round.

One of the petitions filed by Dr. Astha Goel and others through advocate Tanvi Dubey said on April 18, 2022, vide a notification, that the MCC declared that there existed 323 vacant seats in UG counselling and in order to make sure that these precious seats do not go to waste, they would be conducting a Special Stray Round for the same .

The plea said that it is pertinent to mention here that this is a practice that has been followed by the MCC previously wherein Special Stray Rounds for UG and PG have been conducted in order to ensure that seats don’t go vacant; however, this wasn’t followed this year.

The petition claimed that in other examinations like INICET, a special stray round counselling has been conducted to ensure that there is no wastage of seats.

(PTI)