SC issues notice to Karnataka, Bihar over Delayed NEET PG Counselling

New Delhi: Taking note of the delay in the schedule of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Postgraduate (NEET-PG) Counselling 2022, the Supreme Court has recently issued notices to the State Governments of Karnataka and Bihar, where the counselling got postponed due to different reasons.

While the State counselling is pending in these states, already the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has proceeded with the Mop-up round of NEET-PG Counselling for the All-India Quota seats. 

Issuing a notice on November 8, 2022, MCC has notified the students about the reopening of the portal for the fresh registration for the Mop-Up Round of Counselling. The portal for fresh registration has opened at 02:00 PM of November 8, 2022 and it will remain open until 11:00 AM of November 10, 2022.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported about the delay in the NEET-PG Counselling for the State quota seats in states like Karnataka, Bihar. In case of Karnataka, Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) had to stop the counselling process after the In-service doctors challenged the State's decision of reducing the In-service reservation from 30 percent to 15 percent. 

After considering the matter, the Karnataka High Court had quashed the State Government order and consequently, KEA had to release a fresh seat matrix with 20 per cent reservation available for the In-service doctors.

Also Read: Doctors write to Health Minister over possible seat blocking due to inconsistencies in NEET PG Counselling Schedules

In case of Bihar, the counselling for the State-quota seats gets conducted by Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (BCECEB). However, on November 4, the Board released a revised schedule for Round 2 of the NEET PG Counselling while citing "unavoidable reasons".

Not only these two seats, the PG medical counselling hit a roadblock in Maharashtra as well after the Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test (CET) cell excluded altogether 400 seats during the allotment process in the Round 1 of the counselling. Consequently, on November 3, the CET cell announced a revised schedule for the seat allotment process for the Round 2.

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.

As per the latest media report by Edex Live, while several PG medical aspirants were demanding a stay on the AIQ Mop-up rounds, now the Supreme Court has issued notices to the State Counsels for Karnataka and Bihar over the delay in NEET-PG Counselling.

Also Read: KEA Issues notice on seat allotment schedule, instructions for In-Service, Non-Service NEET PG Candidates