BOPEE declares counselling to accommodate 50 MBBS students of Vaishno Devi medical college

The decision follows directions from the Health and Medical Education Department, J&K, and communications received from the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB) of the National Medical Commission (NMC). The counselling exercise aims to relocate students who were provisionally allotted MBBS seats at SMVDIME Katra during earlier rounds of counselling conducted in October, November and December 2025.

As per the official notification released by the J&K BOPEE in this regard, J&K BOPEE will conduct the physical round of counselling on January 24, 2026 (Saturday), with reporting scheduled at 10:00 AM at the BOPEE offices in Jammu or Srinagar. Only candidates whose names appear in Annexure ‘A’ of the notification are eligible to participate in this round.

The following procedures shall be adopted in this round of physical counselling-

1 All the candidates are advised to report physically at the J&K BOPEE Office, Jammu/Srinagar, on the above date between 10.00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. for attendance and registration.

2 The candidates are advised to bring along with all the original documents/certificates, including Domicile Certificate / Qualifying Marks card and admission fee receipt issued by the Competent Authority, which shall be presented by them at the time of Counselling for scrutiny and verification by the Board.

3 If any candidate cannot participate personally in the counselling on the designated day & date of Counselling due to unavoidable circumstances, he/she can authorise his/her close family member who falls in his/her blood relation on the devised format of the Board to participate in the counselling on behalf of the concerned candidate. The authorised person shall have to submit the authorisation letter along with their Identity Card and Aadhar Card during the process of counselling.

The Health and Medical Education Department has created 50 supernumerary MBBS seats for the academic year 2025-26, which will be distributed across seven newly established Government Medical Colleges in the UT. The seat allocation includes 8 seats at GMC Anantnag, and 7 seats each at GMC Baramulla, GMC Doda, GMC Handwara, GMC Kathua, GMC Rajouri and GMC Udhampur, taking the total to 50 seats.

The Seat Matrix of 50 supernumerary seats conveyed by the Health & Medical Education Department is as per the details mentioned below-

The allotment of these supernumerary seats will be carried out strictly based on the National Eligibility and Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) merit and the preferences exercised by candidates among the seven government medical colleges.

The development comes after the BOPEE initially said that it cannot conduct fresh counselling for MBBS admissions and allocation of supernumerary seats to those who were earlier given seats at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence be made at the government level.

The clarification by the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) had come in a letter to the Union territory’s health and medical education department, which sought its intervention in the relocation of 50 MBBS students of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Institute of Medical Excellence (SMVDIME).

Medical Dialogues had reported Earlier this month, the National Medical Commission’s Medical Assessment and Rating Board withdrew the letter of permission granted to SMVDIME for non-compliance with minimum standards. It had said that those admitted to the college during the counselling shall be accommodated in other institutions in Jammu and Kashmir as supernumerary seats.

In a letter to the Jammu and Kashmir Health and Medical Education Department, the BOPEEsaid, “I am directed to submit that the matter was placed before the Board for detailed deliberations and the Board has observed that it is constrained to conduct any new counselling for the year 2025-26 as it is not mandated go beyond the counseling schedule issued by Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), MoHFW, New Delhi for currert academic session.” It said that under the directions of MCC, data of 1,410 MBBS candidates, including 50 candidates of SMVDIME under question, has been updated on their portal on the last date of joining on December 31, 2025, as per PTI

“Further, the creation and allotment of supernumerary seats does not fall within the ambit of J-K BOPEE.” Therefore, the fresh allocation of supernumerary seats to these candidates who were earlier allotted SMVDIME be made at the government level in consultation with the National Medical Commission and respective medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir, the letter said.

Among the inaugural batch of 50 students at the SMVDIME, 42 were Muslims — mostly from Kashmir — along with seven Hindu students from Jammu and one Sikh candidate, a composition that triggered demands for scrapping the admissions and reserving all seats for Hindu students.

To view the notification, click the link below

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/jk-bopee-announces-special-physical-counselling-to-shift-50-smvdime-mbbs-students-to-govt-medical-colleges-322859.pdf