You're playing with the future of students: Supreme Court pulls up MCC over vacant seats in NEET-PG medical admissions

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New Delhi, June 8

With as many as 1,456 seats remaining vacant in NEET-PG admissions, the Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), saying it would not only put aspirants into difficulty but also cause dearth of qualified doctors in the country.

“What would you get in leaving a seat vacant when we are in need of doctors? Where are we leading? Why is there no streamlining and stress-less the education system? Do you know the stress level of students and their parents?”, a Bench led by Justice MR Shah asked the MCC.

It asked the MCC and the Centre to explain why the seats were not filled and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.

“Even if the single course has remained vacant, it must not remain unfilled. It’s your duty to see that they don’t remain vacated. You’re playing with the future of students,” it told the MCC counsel whilehearing a petition seeking a special stray round of counselling to enable candidates to vie for vacant seats available after the conduct of a stray vacant round of All India Quota (AIQ).

The petition has been filed by doctors who appeared in NEET-PG 2021 and participated in rounds 1 and 2 of AIQ Counselling and State Quota Counselling followed by All India Mop-Up and State Mop-Up Rounds.

When the authorities got to know in May that seats were vacant, they should have conducted a mop up round ofcounseling, it said even as it expressed reservation over addition of seats in the midst of counselling process, for it increased chances of corruption.

The petitioner doctors contended that occupying the remaining seats on the basis of merit would be in the interest of both the college as well as candidates. Colleges can avoid heavy losses against vacant seats, while deserving candidates can be accommodated against such seats, if an additional round of counselling was conducted, they argued.