Low-Scoring Candidates may Secure Seats in Round 2, concerns raised over TN MBBS Counselling

Chennai- Due to the effort taken by the Chennai State Committee for Medical Admissions to keep the counselling process simple and quick, candidates with low NEET scores may now also get seats in medical colleges.

While officials say this is the only way to address the numerous upgradation requests received from seats allotted in the National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2024 1st round and would trap the system in an endless loop. Also, it would reduce inter-se eligibility and violate Supreme Court orders, TOI has recently reproted.

As per the TOI media news report, over 1,000 seats are vacant as students opted for "free exit", with some students opting for an upgrade in the 2nd round. This will accommodate students who opt for upgrading if seats are available in their preferred colleges. This, in turn, will leave a vacancy in their previously chosen institutes.

On this, the selection committee has told the participants that the allotment of this seat will be done "in descending order and not in ascending order." This means, the next available student who asks for the seat will get it, even if there are students with higher marks waiting for the same seat.

Furthermore, speaking to the TOI, a senior official said “If a student with rank 100 is moved to MMC from Stanley and a student with rank 101 is asking for a seat in Stanley, he or she will get it even if a student with rank 97 or 98 is waiting for the seat." He added, "I have said it in a simple way; usually, there are multiple requests for an upgrade. The system goes into a loop and reaches a point of an infinite loop. When this happens, the system does not work. There is no allocation of seats. So, we decided to keep programming less complicated”.

Students and parents, however, argue that they must look at options to prevent looping. "The infinite loop is because of infinite options. Students must not be allowed a free exit. A student who is allowed to exit must not be allowed to participate in the counselling process. If this happens, upgrades will come down and reduce the risk of infinite looping," said Raguram R, whose son is awaiting medical admissions this year.

Recently, the Chennai State Committee conducted the counselling for state quota seats in government medical colleges and all seats in self-financed medical colleges and has completed the admission for Round 1 based on NEET and reservation rules.