600 Super-speciality seats lying vacant- Madras HC tells MCC, DGHS to conduct NEET SS mop up round

Chennai: The Madras High Court recently issued directions to the Director General of Health Services (DGHS), operative under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) to conduct mop-up counselling for the National Eligibility-Entrance Test (NEET) Super-Specialty 2024-2025 exam to fill up vacant seats and enable successful candidates to get their preferred courses.

The HC bench comprising Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan passed the order while considering a plea filed by some doctors who prayed for orders to conduct the mop-up counselling to fill all vacancies across several states.

While considering the matter, the court directed the DGHS and MCC to conduct the mop-up counselling within four weeks.

Also Read: NEET SS: Doctors express concern over vacant seats, demand another counselling round

As per the latest media report by The New Indian Express, the counsel for the petitioners, senior counsel P H Arvindh Pandian, submitted that out of the 5,000 super specialty seats available in medical colleges across the country, as many as 600 are lying vacant after two rounds of counselling under the NEET-SS and an additional round will benefit the candidates and will also fill up the seats.

The petitioners' counsel submitted before the Court that the denial of mop-up counselling will result in arbitrary and unjustified non-utilisation of valuable resources of public and private medical educational institutes, particularly in the high-demand, prestigious institutes. Therefore, it will defeat the objective of equitable access to medical education, submitted the counsel.

Senior counsel Arvindh Pandian further submitted before the HC bench, "The Super Specialty seats are a valuable public resource created at significant cost and must not remain vacant. The respondents’ failure to include TN’s unfilled seats in the national counselling process has resulted in wastage, warranting a mop-up round to ensure optimal seat utilisation in public interest."

On the other hand, the counsel for the authorities, including DGHS, Additional Solicitor General of India A R L Sundaresan, opposed the plea, arguing that the counselling sessions for PG Super Specialty courses were conducted by DGHS in strict compliance with the orders passed by the Supreme Court in the case of Anish Ranjan. In that case, the Apex Court bench had fixed strict time schedules, there cannot be any extension of time, argued the ASG.

The DGHS's counsel submitted that the Supreme Court fixed the last date on August 31 of every year and therefore, a fresh mop-up round cannot be held in September after the cut-off dates are over. Further, the ASG pointed out that the relief sought by the petitioners was highly belated and the academic year had already begun.

After considering the arguments, the HC bench granted relief to the petitioners and directed the authorities, including the DGHS, to conduct the mop-up counselling.

The High Court's ruling come amid the demands from the superspeciality candidates to hold another round of counselling for NEET SS 2024. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that, highlighting that several superspeciality seats are still vacant even after three rounds of NEET-SS 2024 counselling, aspirants were urging the Government authorities to hold another round of counselling to prevent wasting these seats.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that more than 1500 super-speciality seats were lying vacant even after two rounds of National Eligibility-Entrance Test Super Speciality (NEET-SS) 2024 Counselling. Back then, the doctors had urged the authorities, including the National Board of Examinations (NBE), to lower the cut-off before the next round of counselling.

Also Read: NEET SS: Doctors flag concern over vacant seats, call for another counselling round