All vacant MBBS seats will be filled up: MCC informs Gujarat HC
Gujarat: The Gujarat High Court has dismissed a petition filed by the MEDGUJ Association of Gujarat Medical Colleges after the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) informed the court that it had issued notifications for conducting further rounds of admissions to fill the vacant seats.
Following this, the petitioners withdrew their plea. The MCC told the court that it would likely conduct a "fourth or fifth round of admissions" and fill all the seats.
The High Court was hearing a petition filed by the MEDGUJ Association against the MCC, National Medical Commission (NMC), and the Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Courses (ACPUMC), which argued that despite many seats remaining vacant after the completion of three rounds of admissions conducted by the ACPUMC, the authorities were reluctant to conduct further rounds of admissions for the MBBS course.
According to an Indian Express news report, on Friday, Gujarat High Court Justice Nirzar S Desai, in an oral order, granted the petitioners the liberty to file a fresh petition if they face any difficulties in the future.
In its order, the High Court stated that the copy of the notification issued by the MCC "declared that, possibly, there shall be a fourth and even fifth round of admission in the MBBS Course and all the seats remaining vacant in the MBBS Course will be filled up… In view of the above (advocates appearing for the petitioner), under the instructions, sought permission to withdraw this petition with a liberty to file a fresh petition in case of difficulty”.
Meanwhile, Additional Advocate General ML Shah and Additional Government Pleader KM Antani, appearing on behalf of ACPUMC, submitted a copy of the notification issued by the MCC, which stated that further rounds of admissions would be conducted to fill the vacant seats in the MBBS course in the state.
While considering the matter, the high court also asked the ACPUMC to respond to the plea and listed the matter for further hearing
Last month, the MEDGUJ Association of Gujarat Medical Colleges filed a plea before the High Court after the authorities appeared unwilling to hold further rounds of counselling for MBBS courses, even though several seats remained vacant after the completion of three rounds of counselling conducted by the Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Courses (ACPUMC). There are around 6400 MBBS seats available across the medical colleges in Gujarat.
Approaching the HC bench, the association submitted that last year, the authorities conducted an additional admission round even after the deadline when only four MBBS seats remained vacant. Contradictorily, this year, many more MBBS seats remained vacant after the admission deadline.
Therefore, the petitioners contended that not holding another round of admissions by ACPUMC was detrimental to the students as well as the society at large, as India continues to face a shortage of qualified doctors.
