Supreme Court directs States to Furnish NEET PG Counselling Data to MCC

Written by Barsha Misra Published On 2022-05-12T14:36:19+05:30 | Updated On 12 May 2022 2:36 PM IST

Supreme Court directs States to Furnish NEET PG Counselling Data to MCC

New Delhi: While considering a contempt plea that alleged that the States did not comply with the top court's order on NEET PG AIQ Mop Up Round, the Supreme Court on Monday sought to know from four States about the manner in which they complied with its earlier order.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Telangana- these are the four States that have been asked to file an affidavit in this regard by the top court bench comprising of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant and furnish full data to the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) within a period of two weeks.

"Each of the above State Governments shall furnish full data to the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) within a period of two weeks and respond to any further queries that may be required by the MCC to establish whether compliance has been effected of the directions of this Court," read the order.

However, the bench has not issued notice in this regard yet.

The concerned order of the top court dated March 31, 2022, which has been alleged to be violated, had put the NEET PG counselling on hold. Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Supreme Court had cancelled the All India Quota mop-up round counselling for NEET-PG 2021-22 admissions to "resolve the anomalies" over 146 fresh seats, which were not available for candidates who participated in round one and two of the process.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Bela M Trivedi directed holding of a special round of counselling for 146 fresh seats and allowed the students, who have joined the All India Quota (AIQ) or state quota in round two to participate in it.

At that time, the top court had further directed, "In line with the notification of 5 April 2018, students who have joined in round 2 of State Quota shall not be eligible to participate in the mop-up round for State or All India Quota."

Also Read: MCC NEET PG Counselling Put On Hold As SC Cancels AIQ Mop Up Round Over Anomalies In 146 Fresh Seats

However, as per the latest media report by Live Law, a contempt plea before the Supreme Court has alleged that the earlier order of the top court barring students who participated in State Quota or AIQ round 2 to appear in AIQ Mop-Up round was not being complied with the four states mentioned previously.

Filed through Advocate Ashutosh Dubey and Abhishekh Chauhan, the petition argued that the act of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana of allowing the students to resign for participation in AIQ mop-up round was malafide and an attempt to overreach the powers of the Supreme Court.

At this backdrop the petition stated,"By virtue of such conduct of the contemnors, those students/ candidates who had already taken admission/ joined under State Quota Round 2 counselling as of the date of order dated 31.3.2022 were not eligible for participation in the All India Quota/ State Mop-up round as they had already taken admission before the All India Mop-up round commenced prior to passing of the order dated 31.3.2022 by this Hon'ble Court, have been permitted to resign from their seats and have been permitted for participation in All India Mop-up round held now post order dated 31.3.2022, which they would otherwise be not eligible. There cannot be any new classification of students who joined seats under Round 2 Counseling and resigned now and become eligible for participation in the All India Mop-up round held now."

It has been further contended by the petitioners that after taking note of the fact that the State DMEs were not complying with the top court order, the MCC on 04.04.2022 had notified all State DMEs not to allow participants who had appeared in round 2 of the State Quota or round 2 of the AIQ in the mop-up round of All India Quota.

However, in spite of the MCC notification, certain State Medical Councils brazenly and intentionally violated the order dated 31.3.2022 and allowed the joined students in Round 2 counseling to freely resign, participate in AIQ-Mop-up round, contended the plea.

"Their status has been conveniently shown as "Non-reported" candidates, whereas such candidates were already allotted seats, paid fees, and joined the respective seats. It is the bounden duty of the State Medical Councils and State DMEs to send a list of students/ candidates who have joined until the second round of State counseling to the MCC so that only the eligible and proper candidates take part in AIQ-Mop-up round and get their seats. It is submitted that the whole effort is to curtail the act of blocking the seats and not making it available to subsequent candidates and then again participate a second time to have a second bite of cherry," it stated.

While Advocate Rakesh Khanna appeared for the petitioners the top court bench directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to assist the court regarding the issue.

"We request Ms Aishwarya Bhati, Additional Solicitor General thereafter to assist the Court so that the problems which have emerged for the current year will be obviated in the future," directed the court.

Directing the concerned States to file affidavit, the bench noted,
"The States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala shall file their replies within two weeks setting out the manner in which the order of this Court dated 31 March 2022 has been complied with."

The matter has been listed for further hearing on 12 July 2022.

To read the top court order, click on the link below.

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/supreme-court-contempt-plea-176205.pdf

Also Read:SC to hear plea seeking postponement of NEET PG 2022 exam on May 13

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Source : with inputs

Barsha Misra

Barsha completed her Master's in English from the University of Burdwan, West Bengal in 2018. Having a knack for Journalism she joined Medical Dialogues back in 2020. She mainly covers news about medico legal cases, NMC/DCI updates, medical education issues including the latest updates about medical and dental colleges in India. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.