NEET SS Counselling 2025: Supreme Court directs Tamil Nadu to surrender 151 vacant seats to AIQ
Supreme Court of India
New Delhi: Disposing of the plea related to 151 vacant super-speciality seats, the Supreme Court recently directed the State of Tamil Nadu Government to surrender these seats to the All India Quota.
"The State of Tamil Nadu will take necessary steps to intimate the Director General of Health Services about the 151 vacant seats that have remained unfilled," the Apex Court bench comprising Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe ordered so that these seats could be filled through the All India merit list.
With this direction, the Court disposed of a plea seeking the surrender of unfilled DM and M.Ch seats from Tamil Nadu State Quota to the All India Quota in the ongoing NEET-SS-2025 counselling.
The top court bench passed this order after taking note of the fact that all the parties agreed that the matter could be disposed of in terms of the Apex Court's directions in "N. Karthikeyan & Ors. vs. The State of Tamil Nadu & Ors".
In that specific case, the Apex Court in its order dated 02.12.2022 had permitted Tamil Nadu to fill seats reserved under a Government Order dated November 7, 2020, within 15 days. The Court had specified that any seats remaining unfilled after the prescribed period could be filled by the Union Government based on the All India merit list. In that order, the State had been directed to inform the Union Government about unfilled in-service category seats after completing its admission process.
During the proceedings of the case concerning 151 vacant super speciality seats, the Additional Solicitor General submitted that for the present, the cut-off that was existing on the date of counselling would be maintained unless it becomes necessary vary it.
Taking note of this, the Apex Court directed the State of Tamil Nadu to take necessary steps to inform the Director General of Health Services about the 151 vacant seats that have remained unfilled.
"With these directions, the Writ Petition stands disposed of...We make it clear that this order is in the facts and circumstances of the case and shall not be treated as a precedent," ordered the Supreme Court.
Following this order, the ongoing legal impediment regarding the ongoing NEET-SS 2025 counselling should have come to an end.
The results for the NEET-SS examination were announced in January 2026, 1st round of counselling by MCC was completed, and a few students joined their allotted institute. But due to the delay in the 2nd round of counselling, the majority of the candidates having applied for upgradation of their seats can not join the prior allotted institute.
Amid this, MCC on June 06 said that it was examining the issue and exploring various legal remedies to determine the appropriate course of action in light of the communication received from the Government of Tamil Nadu and any further proceedings before the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that around 7,000 aspirants across the country were expecting the counselling process to resume from June 1, 2026, following discussions between a FAIMA delegation and concerned authorities.
However, MCC later received information that the state had filed a review petition before the apex court on June 4, prompting the committee to seek legal clarification before proceeding. Many aspirants argued that the review petition should not stall the entire counselling process and have urged MCC to continue Round 2 while deciding the disputed seats separately. Despite these demands, MCC has not announced any fresh counselling schedule, leaving the admission process in limbo.
The delay has left thousands of candidates frustrated, especially those who have already qualified the exam and paid counselling fees of Rs 2 lakh but remain uncertain about the next steps.
To view the Supreme Court order, click on the link below:
https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/2026/06/16/tamilvani-vs-state-of-tamil-nadu-354139.pdf
