More than 2,000 Vacant MBBS Seats to be Filled in Special Stray vacancy Counselling Round
New Delhi: The Medical Counselling Committee's (MCC) decision to hold a special stray vacancy round has come as a huge relief for the medical aspirants as more than 2000 MBBS seats are still lying vacant across the medical colleges in the country and this also includes a total number of 156 MBBS seats in the all-India quota.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that around 2000 MBBS seats are likely to remain vacant this year due to the mismanagement of the counselling process and the violation of MBBS admission guidelines.
Among these, 1500 MBBS seats remained unfilled during the counselling process and another 600 MBBS admissions are likely to be cancelled as they were either made after the admission deadline i.e. September 30, or those seats were filled at the institute-level, which NMC had earlier barred.
In Karnataka, even after the completion of the four rounds of counselling, a total number of 133 MBBS seats remained vacant. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that in Tamil Nadu a total number of 86 MBBS seats remained vacant even after the completion of the counselling process. Among these 86 MBBS seats, 16 MBBS seats belonged to the Government-run medical colleges, 3 seats were in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Madurai, 50 MBBS seats were in Deemed Universities and 17 other seats were in self-financing medical colleges.
Also Read: 86 MBBS Seats Lying Vacant, Tamil Nadu to move Supreme Court
Recently the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) approached the Supreme Court seeking directions from the Central Government to allow the State to hold a second round of stray counselling. In fact, the Tamil Nadu Government was also planning to approach the Supreme Court in this regard.
Amid this situation, the Union Health Ministry approached the Apex Court seeking an extension of the last date for admissions to prevent wastage of 'precious' medical seats.
As per the latest media report by the Times of India, an official informed that the Ministry had received a lot of representations from the State Governments and students seeking an extension of the last date of admissions and for a special round. The Central Government informed the Court that altogether 2,181 seats remained vacant in MBBS alone.
Commenting on this, an official from the Ministry added that these seats also include the seats that were discharged a few days ago, after the NMC circular. The official added, "The states can conduct counselling in these seats (admissions to which were declared invalid) once again and if proper NMC approved process has been followed, then earlier admissions will be regularised."
On the basis of the Apex Court's order, MCC on Tuesday announced to conduct a special stray vacancy round to fill up the vacant seats and mentioned in the notice, "All the NEET UG 2023 eligible candidates are hereby informed that to prevent wastage of precious medical seats, MoHFW approached the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Diary No. 45004 of 2023 in W.P (C) No. 76 of 2015 for extension of last date of admission of under graduate courses and to conduct a Special Stray Vacancy Round for the vacant MBBS/ B.D.S/ B.Sc Nursing Seats of AIQ and State Quota. It is pertinent to mention that this Special Stray Vacancy Round will be the last round for under graduate courses for this academic year i.e 2023. The details of the vacant AIQ seats are available on MCC website (www.mcc.nic.in). Candidates may contact state counselling authorities for vacant state quota seats."
The MCC has also released the seat matrix for round 6 of MBBS admission for the academic year 2023-2024. It informed that a total number of 156 MBBS seats are vacant for round 6. The seat matrix includes State Name, Institute, Quota, Branch, Category, and Total Seats. The seats are vacant for Deemed/Paid Seats Quota, All India, Open Seat Quota, and Non-Resident Indian.
The counseling process is divided into central and state counseling. While the central counseling process has begun, and the state counselling begins on 7th Nov. 2023. For both the counseling process, the last date to join is 15th Nov. 2023.
Also Read: 156 Seats Vacant For Round 6 Of MBBS Admissions: MCC releases seat matrix, details here
In the case of Puducherry, there was uncertainty regarding the admissions of around 450 MBBS students as the process was completed by the authorities after September 30, the cut-off date prescribed by the National Medical Commission (NMC).
As per the latest media report by The New Indian Express, as a result of the MCC decision to hold the special stray vacancy round, the uncertainty regarding 447 MBBS admissions in Puducherry has also been cleared.
The Daily adds that while there are 11 MBBS seats vacant under the management quota in the three private medical colleges, there are no vacant seats under the government quota.
Although NMC has not given any specific order for Puducherry regarding the second and third rounds of counselling conducted after the cut-off date, the initial rounds will be covered with the extended schedule, mentioned the CENTAC authorities.
They further mentioned that the reply to the show cause notices issued by NMC to CENTAC and individual colleges have been sent and any specific guideline provided by the Commission would be followed.
Meanwhile, referring to the extension of the deadline for MBBS admissions, L-G Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Ministries of Home Affairs and Health and Family Welfare. She also directed the officials to expedite the counselling process.
While several admissions were declared invalid for violating the September 30 deadline, Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that NMC had cancelled 141 MBBS admissions stray-vacancy-round MBBS admissions in private medical colleges in Maharashtra as the counselling for these seats was conducted at the institute level through email communication violating the directions issued by NMC.
However, aspirants in Maharashtra are unsure about the implication of the extension of the deadline in the case of 141 cancelled admissions. One of the parents Brijesh Sutaria questioned if the MCC decision would mean that admission to all the 141 seats that were earlier declared invalid would have to be redone in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court has issued an interim order and granted temporary relief to two of these 141 students. Commenting on the matter, an official from the State Medical Education Department mentioned that they did not have any vacancies as of September 30.
Addressing the cancellation of 141 MBBS admissions, the official told the Times of India that a letter has been sent to the Union Ministry seeking acceptance of those admissions. The official added that they are waiting for a response.
