NEET PG: Students who take admission under AIQ can't vacate seats after Round 2, says Supreme Court

New Delhi: Reiterating its previous observations, the Supreme Court bench on Monday stated that students who take admission to the All India Quota Postgraduate medical seats cannot be permitted to vacate these seats after the second round of NEET PG counselling for the AIQ seats.

While making this observation, the top court bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra referred to its 2017 order in the case of Dar-Us-Slam Educational Trust v Medical Council of India.

According to the rules, altogether 50% of PG medical seats belonging to the All India Quota are filled through a centralized counselling process conducted by the Medical Counselling Committee. On the other hand, the remaining 50% of PG medical seats are filled by the respective State Government.

The Apex court took cognizance of the matter when a student who resigned from the seat allotted to her under the NRI quota approached the bench and sought its intervention.

The concerned student was granted admission to a three-year postgraduate medical degree course in the second round of counselling in the NRI quota on 24 February 2022. However, the petitioner sought to resign from the seat on March 7 2022.

On 11 March 2022, the petitioner informed the college authorities that she needed 45 days time to reconsider her options and take a decision. Eventually, the petitioner withdrew from the seat which was allotted to her on 26 March 2022. Thereafter the third round of counselling took place on April 22, 2022, followed by a fourth round for the stray vacancy on May 7, 2022. However, the concerned seat remained unfilled.

Taking note of the matter, the bench cited its earlier order in the case of Dar-Us-Slam Educational Trust v Medical Council of India where it was expressly stipulated that after the second round of counselling for All India Quota seats, students who take admission in All India Quota seats should not be allowed/permitted to vacate the seats.

The bench pointed out, "...in Dar-Us-Slam Educational Trust v Medical Council of India1 , it was expressly stipulated that after the second round of counselling for All India Quota seats, students who take admission in All India Quota seats should not be allowed/permitted to vacate the seats."

In the concerned case, in an order dated May 9, 2017, the top court bench had held, "After the second round of counselling for All India Quota seats, the students who take admission in All India Quota seats should not be allowed/permitted to vacate the seats. This would ensure that very few seats are reverted to the State Quota and also All India Quota seats are filed by students from the all India merit list only. The students who take admission and secure admission in Deemed Universities pursuant to the second round of counselling conducted by the DGHS shall not be eligible to participate in any other counselling."

Citing this order, the Supreme Court in the context of the present case noted that "In the present case, as a result of the decision of the petitioner, the seat was left vacant preventing any other meritorious student from obtaining admission."

Therefore, dismissing the plea, the bench observed, "In this view of the matter, the exercise of the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution is not warranted."

To read the Supreme Court order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/supreme-court-order-disabled-candidate-217254.pdf

To view the Supreme Court order dated May 9, 2017, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/supreme-court-2017-order-217256.pdf

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