SC Seeks Centre, NMC Response on Plea for Fresh NEET-PG Round 3 Counselling

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre, the National Medical Commission and others on a plea seeking fresh counselling of all India quota (AIQ) round 3 of NEET-PG 2024. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran issued a notice on the plea and scheduled the hearing for February 7.

Candidates Claim Unfair Advantage in Seat Allocation

The petitioners, who are eligible for NEET-PG 2024 counselling, stated that Round 3 of AIQ counselling for NEET-PG began before Round 2 of counselling had concluded in certain states.

Petitioners Seek Cancellation of AIQ Round 3 Counselling or Fresh Round

The plea, filed by advocate Tanvi Dubey, expressed that the petitioners were dissatisfied with the overlapping counselling schedules for AIQ and state quota. It noted that many candidates from the state quota, who were otherwise ineligible to register for AIQ Round 3, were still able to block seats during the round.

The petition explained that when state Round 2 counselling began, candidates had the option to either choose the best available seat or leave the AIQ seat if a better one was available in the state round.

"This created a grave prejudice to the petitioners and similarly placed candidates since they were deprived of the seats which were blocked by the candidates from the states whose round 2 did not commence earlier," the plea stated.

Alleged Violation of NEET-PG Counselling Guidelines

The plea further pointed out that the blocked seats were not available to other candidates, including the petitioners.

"If the AIQ Round 3 would have been conducted after the state round 2 counselling for all states was concluded, a group of candidates would not have gotten an undue advantage of blocking a seat in AIQ round 3 and leaving it later while participating in state round 2," it argued.

The petitioners also claimed that the Medical Counselling Committee's decision to conduct AIQ Round 3 before the conclusion of state Round 2 resulted in candidates from Madhya Pradesh, where the state round 2 was still ongoing, blocking seats.

Request for Fresh or Fourth Round of Counselling

This, according to the plea, led to a situation where many meritorious and eligible candidates lost out on those seats.

The petition contended that this action by the respondents was inconsistent with the NEET-PG counselling schedule set by the Supreme Court.

Plea Calls for Rectifying the Process to Ensure Fairness

It further stated that all other states, except Madhya Pradesh, had completed Round 2 counselling before the AIQ Round 3 results were announced.

"The act of depriving the candidates of the seat for which they are otherwise eligible is violative of their fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution," the plea said.

The petitioners sought directions for the Medical Counselling Committee to cancel AIQ Round 3 of NEET-PG 2024 counselling and conduct it afresh due to the anomalies in the counselling process.

Alternatively, the plea requested the court to direct the committee to conduct a fourth round of counselling for the leftover seats, which were blocked by candidates from states where Round 2 of state counselling had not concluded. The petition also sought an option for candidates who were eligible for AIQ Round 3 to register for a stray round of NEET-PG 2024 counselling.