SC directs States, UTs to complete 2nd Round of NEET PG Counselling by November 16
New Delhi: With an aim to dismiss the gap between the State and All-India Quota counselling for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Post graduate (NEET-PG) Examination, the Supreme Court on Friday directed all the States and Union Territories for completing the second round of counselling within November 16, 2022.
The States have been directed to submit the data in this regard to the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) and following this, the Mop-up counselling shall be conducted.
"In order to ensure finality in the process of counselling in NEET-PG we direct all States and Union Territories to finish second round of counselling at 6PM on 16th Nov, 2022 and submit data on the same day to MCC. The counselling for mop-up round shall then be carried out by the competent authority. State of Maharashtra shall commence with State Mop-up round only after AIQ Mop-up round is over," observed the Apex Court bench comprising the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli.
These directions were issued by the court while it was considering a contempt plea referring to the fact that the State Counselling was pending in States such as Karnataka and Bihar while the Mop-Up Round for the AIQ seats was already in progress.
As per the Supreme Court order in the case of Nihila PP v. Medical Counselling Committee And Ors., the All0India Quota seats get filled up in four rounds of counselling. This includes the Mop-up and stray vacancy round that concludes the counselling process. These modifications started to be implemented for the NEET UG and PG admissions for the academic year 2021-2022.
Consequently, on 16.03.2022, the Directorate General of Health Sciences (DGHS) issued an advisory directing the eligible candidates to participate in the mop-up counselling conducted by MCC after the second round of State counselling was over.
The advisory stated in this regard, "The candidates holding a seat in Round 2 of State Counselling are advised to not take part in the Mop-Up round of AIQ counselling and the participating State authorities are advised that the Candidates who have been allotted and joined a seat in Round 2 of the State Counselling may not be allowed to resign in compliance of the Gazette Notification No. MCI- 18(1)/2018-Med./100818 dated 5th April, 2018. It is also informed that the Mop-Up round is only for those candidates who have not joined/holding any seat during the previous rounds of counselling."
Also Read: SC issues notice to Karnataka, Bihar over Delayed NEET PG Counselling
As per the latest media report by Live Law, when this scheme was not implemented for the academic year 2021-2022, petitions were filed before the Apex Court, which directed on 31.03.2022, "(v) In line with the regulations which have been notified on 5 April 2018, students who have joined in round 2 of the state quota or round 2 of the AIQ shall not be eligible to participate in the mop-up round for All India Quota."
Complying with the order of the top court, DGHS in a notice dated 12.07.2022 informed all the stakeholders about a software developed by MCC for all participating state/counselling authorities for NEET-UG and PG and directed them to upload the details of the students who have joined till round 2 or more under the State and round 2 of AIQ counselling on the common portal.
It had been further mentioned in the notice that the candidates who have joined till round 2 of AIQ or State Quota counselling, would not be able to participate in the consequent rounds from the academic year 2022-2023.
At this outset, the petitioners approached the Apex Court and submitted that even though the States/counselling authorities need to upload the details of the students on th common portal before the commencement of the Mop-up round, the authorities have initiated the Mop-up counselling process on 31.10.2022 when several States have not completed the counselling for Round 2.
Alleging it to be non-compliance with the Apex Court order and the DGHS notice, the plea contended that the authorities, in this way, have provided an opportunity to the candidates of the States that have not completed the 2nd round of Counselling to select seats from the Mop-up seat matrix along with the 2nd round of counselling for their respective states.
On the other hand, the candidates of States where 2nd round of counselling has been completed are deprived of this opportunity. Therefore, filing the contempt plea, the petitioners claimed that the authorities have deliberately and contumaciously disobeyed the Apex Court's direction.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that taking note of the delay in the schedule of NEET-PG Counselling 2022, the Supreme Court had issued notices to the State Governments of Karnataka and Bihar, where counselling had got postponed due to different reasons.
During the hearing of the case on November 9, the Additional Solicitor General Ms Aishwarya Bhati had pointed out that States of of Assam, Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal and the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir and of Puducherry have not completed the second round of counselling for NEET-PG.
At this outset, the counsel for Karnataka had informed the court that the second round of counselling shall be completed by November 20, 2022. Considering this, the bench had noted earlier, "At this stage, it appears that the above States and Union Territories have failed to complete the second round of counselling as a result of which the mop up round of counselling is to take place without the anterior stage being completed. This could cause serious prejudice to students who are desirous of applying for the NEET-PG mop up round."
Therefore, apart from Karnataka and Bihar, the bench had issued notice to the remaining states as well where the counselling for the second round was incomplete.
Directing the authorities to conclude the counselling within November 16, the bench had mentioned in the judgment, "All the States and and Union Territories which have not completed the second round of counselling are placed on notice that this Court would, unless adequate reasons are furnished on the next date, be inclined to issue a peremptory direction for completion of the second round of counselling by 16 November 2022 so that the mop up round for All-India counselling can then take place."
After receiving notice, all States were present before the Supreme Court, and referring to this, ASG Bhati informed the court on Friday, "All states are here. They do not have any problem. Your lordships have fix 16th November".
Accordingly, the bench set November 16, 2022 as the deadline for completing the second round of counselling. In this regard, CJI Chandrachud was quoted noting by Live Law, "We will now say that all States should complete second round of Counselling by 16th Nov."
Earlier, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) had written to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya while referring to the inconsistencies and asynchronization between the All India Quota and State Quota counselling rounds of NEET-PG Examination.
Calling the counselling process a gamble, FORDA in its letter had pointed out that while the All India Counselling is continuing, several states including Karnataka had not begun their State Counselling. Referring to this, the association had also raised the red flags of seat blocking.
"Many states are yet to begin their state rounds, which will only make the All India mop up rounds a dicey proposition for many meritorious students and put them at a serious disadvantage when it comes to their career choice," FORDA had mentioned in the letter.
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