Institute-level counselling: Uncertainty continues for 141 MBBS Admissions done at private medical colleges in Maharashtra

Mumbai: More than 140 students who got admitted to the MBBS course via Institute-level counselling are still facing uncertainty regarding the status of their admission.

In an unprecedented move, the National Medical Commission (NMC) had earlier cancelled these 141 stray-vacancy round MBBS admissions, as the counselling for these seats was conducted at the institute level through email communication violating the directions issued by the Commission.

While these students started attending their classes from October 1, 2023, they are still waiting from the nod from the governing body to regularise their admissions.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that with an aim to put an end to the issue of seat blocking in medical colleges, NMC had clarified that the counselling agencies in the State and the Centre will fill up the seats in all the medical institutes through online counselling.

Clarifying that the mode of counselling will be online even for the stray vacany round in Private Medical Colleges from this academic year, the NMC PG Board had further mentioned that no college/institute should conduct the counselling, including the stray vacancy round, in physical mode.

"All the State Counselling Agencies are requested to make necessary arrangement for conducting the counselling in online mode, for all rounds including stray vacancy round in Private Medical Colleges, from the academic year 2023-24. No College/Institute should conduct the counselling, including the stray vacancy round, in physical mode," NMC had mentioned in a circular.

Also Read: Institute Level Counselling NOT ALLOWED: NMC Cancels 141 MBBS Admissions done at private medical colleges in Maharashtra

Despite such a direction issued by the Apex Medical Regulator, the Maharashtra State CET Cell on September 26, 2023, issued a notice to conduct the stray vacancy Round-2.

"The seats remaining vacant in Government/Govt. aided/Corporation Medical Colleges will be filled by Online Stray Vacancy round(s) as per the schedule given in Table 1, Whereas the seat remaining vacant in Private unaided Medical Colleges will be filled at Institute level as per the schedule given in Table 2," the CET cell mentioned in the notice.

Announcing its decision to hold an institute-level stray vacancy round, the CET Cell had directed the eligible desirous candidates to apply via Online mode i.e. through email only to the respective colleges in the prescribed format separately for State Quota and Institutional Quota. Along with the notice, the official email IDs of the concerned colleges were also included.

Referring to the stray vacancy round conducted in the private medical colleges at the institute-level, NMC mentioned that the counselling was conducted in "clear violation" of the Commission's directive in July disallowing institute-level MBBS admissions. Therefore, the Commission clarified that the admissions granted in such a manner will be considered invalid.

In this regard, NMC's official notification dated October 18 mentioned, "It is informed that the notice issued by the CET cell has been found to be issued in clear violation of the NMC’s earlier notice." Due to this, the admission of 141 students who were admitted in this round became invalid.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry approached the Apex Court seeking an extension of the last date for admissions to prevent wastage of 'precious' medical seats.

Based on the order of the Apex Court, MCC recently announced to conduct a special stray vacancy round to fill up the vacant seats. Accordingly, the deadline for MBBS admission was extended to November 15, 2023. However, the aspirants in Maharashtra were unsure about the implication of the extension of the deadline in the case of 141 cancelled admissions.

Also Read: More than 2,000 Vacant MBBS Seats to be Filled in Special Stray vacancy Counselling Round

Commenting on the matter, a parent of one of the students, who got admitted in the final round, told the Times of India that the admission process was done before a representative of the State's CET Cell and it was also recorded.

The parent asked, "There was no scope for malpractice. Admissions were done based on merit. Now that they are cancelled due to violation of norms by state agencies, how can it be the child’s fault?"

Mentioning how her daughter is anxious regarding her admission status, the parent further added, "The college has not told them anything. There is no directive from the state. We are hoping that this issue will be resolved."

Another parent referred to the NMC decision to extend the deadline for MBBS admissions to conduct the special stray vacancy round and mentioned, "Currently, admissions are going on for the all-India seats, and we are hoping that in the next two days, some steps will be taken by the state government to regularise these admissions." The parent further added, "The college has told the students not to worry."

Meanwhile, commenting on the matter, an official from the State CET Cell mentioned that they wrote to the Centre, requesting them to reconsider the decision to cancel the admissions. However, there is no response from the Union Ministry yet.

Referring to the situation, a central government official mentioned that the State Counselling Authority can probably conduct the admissions again before the November 15 deadline and if all norms are followed, the same set of students could get admitted once again.

Earlier the Bombay High Court issued an interim order and granted temporary relief to two of these 141 students.

Also Read: Bombay HC Grants Relief, Temporarily Allows Admission of 2 MBBS Students Admitted through Institute-Level Counselling