NEET PG Counselling delay at GMCH 32 leaves Medicos in limbo

Chandigarh: Postgraduate medical aspirants willing to get admitted to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chandigarh are facing a dilemma regarding their future as the third round of National Eligibility-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) counselling remains stalled at the medical college, despite the clear directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has also granted its permission to GMCh to hold the third round of counselling as per the directives issued by the Supreme Court, which had abolished the domicile-based reservation for PG medical admission. Recently, the Punjab and High Court also ordered the GMCH to conduct the counselling as per the SC ruling.

Despite these rulings and directives, the institute has not yet declared the results of NEET PG counselling. Highlighting their problems, one of the candidates told TOI, "Despite these legal permissions, the GMCH administration reportedly sent the entire file to the legal remembrancer (LR) for interpretation, opting not to declare the results of the third NEET PG counselling. This decision has sparked frustration as GMCH stands as the only medical college where the PG counselling process faced such a significant delay."

Also Read: NEET PG Admissions: Domicile-Based Reservation Unconstitutional!- Supreme Court

In this regard, the parents and aspiring candidates have already sent a representation to the UT Administration's Chief Secretary. Commenting on this, a parent told the Times of India, "We have been assured that by Monday, the counselling shall take place; however, no such information has been shared by the medical college. Also, the next PG NEET will start in June, and GMCH is the only college in the country which is still awaiting its PG counselling."

The delay in the publication of the NEET PG 3rd round counseling result comes amid the legal rulings abolishing the State quota.  Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that earlier this year, the Supreme Court held that domicile-based reservations for postgraduate medical admission could not be allowed as it violated Article 14 of the Constitution.

In this order, the top court bench had offered clarifications regarding the domicile-based reservations in postgraduate medical admissions and held that there would be no domicile State quota and admissions would be based on 50 per cent all India and 50 per cent Institutional (IP) quota.

Even though the Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued an interim order on April 24, allowing the continuation of the third NEET PG Counselling, it had explicitly stated not to declare the results. After this, GMCH published a third counselling notice in newspapers on April 27. However, on May 23, the HC bench also clarified that the PG medical admissions at GMCh 32 would be as per the Supreme Court's ruling. Therefore, the May 23 order, read in conjunction with the Supreme Court's directives and the affidavit submitted by the UT on April 29, rejected all other pleas filed by domicile-based candidates, effectively upholding the abolition of the State quota.

While the parents and medical aspirants are urging the authorities to resolve the matter, the Director Principal of GMCh, Prof AJ Attri told TOI, "We have sent the file to the UT administration's LR branch for interpretation of the HC's decision and whenever we get the reply, the counselling will commence."

Also Read: HC directs PG Medical Admissions at GMCH 32 Chandigarh as per Supreme Court order