Supreme Court issues notice on plea seeking stray round for vacant NEET PG seats

New Delhi: While considering an application filed by private medical colleges in Tamil Nadu seeking a stray counselling round to fill up the vacant postgraduate medical seats, the Supreme Court has issued notice to the authorities.

The top court bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra noted that the matter would be considered after taking note of the number of vacant seats throughout the country.

The application filed by the Tamil Nadu Self-Financing Medical Colleges Association (TNSFMCA) has been listed for further hearing on November 24.

Filing the plea, the association informed the top court bench that the Selection Committee, Directorate of Medical Education and Research conducted 4 rounds of PG counselling in Tamil Nadu this year. 

Accordingly, the schedule for the Stray Vacancy round was published and it was scheduled to be conducted between 16.10.2023 to 19.10.2023. The association informed the bench that as of 16.10.2023, there were 194 vacancies to be filled in Stray Rounds.

Also Read: SC extends PG Medical Admissions deadline to October 10

As per the latest media report by Live Law, approaching the top court bench, the association sought directions for an extension of time for PG Medical Counselling 2023 to fill up the vacancies that have remained unclaimed/unfilled despite the earlier four rounds of counselling.

In its plea, the association pointed out that earlier on 30th October, the Apex Court issued similar directions in the plea regarding UG Counselling seeking a special stray round.

The petitioner association, which consists of 14 active members who are private self-financing medical colleges in the State, pointed out that if another stray round does not get conducted, thousands of PG medical seats would remain vacant throughout the country which is a loss of national assets and public interest.

Further, the association informed the bench that despite the 4 rounds of counselling, in the All India Quota and in the Tamil Nadu State Quota several seats are still unfilled in the colleges.

Meanwhile, Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that recently the Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC) asked the Directorate of Medical Education of all the States and Union Territories to share the data of the students admitted to MD/MS/PG Diploma seats.

The NMC PG Board also sought the details of the postgraduate medical seats that remained vacant after the Stray Round, for which the last date of reporting was October 25, 2023.

To view the order, click on the link below:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/supreme-court-order-224845.pdf

Also Read: NMC deadline for States to Submit PG Medical Admission Info, Details of Seats Vacant After Stray Vacancy Round