Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: June 9, 2022 at 19:36 IST
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) was pulled up by the Supreme Court on Wednesday over the issue of postgraduate medical seats remaining vacant following the latest round of NEET-PG counselling.
The MCC’s counsel told a Bench of Justices M R Shah and Aniruddha Bose, which was hearing a plea seeking another “stray round” of counselling to fill the existing vacancies, 1,456 seats were vacant following the round of counselling on May 7, 2022.
Justice Shah questioned, “You are playing with the future of the students…You came to know in May and could have held another mop up round…We fail to understand what you will get by keeping the seat vacant when we are in need of doctors and super specialists… Why are you not filling up?”
The MCC counsel told the Court, “The counselling for this year has been delayed. It was supposed to start in February 2022…Previous years’ counselling concluded on May 7, 2022. For this year, it will begin in July. Results of the exam were declared on June 1…What happened in 2021…There have been some delays.”
When asked what would happen if another stray round was conducted, MCC lawyers replied it would have a “cascading effect.” Counselling in 2022 would be delayed, and the commencement of the academic year would be delayed, the counsel said.
However, Justice Shah believes the MCC should have done so in May. “You can no longer be permitted to say it would cause a delay,” he stated. The Bench also questioned why more seats were being added during the counselling process.
The matter was rescheduled for hearing on Thursday after MCC counsel stated that he would provide an affidavit explaining how the vacancies arose.
If the students are not admitted, the bench stated that it may issue an order in the matter and award compensation to the candidates who were denied admission.
The Judges then questioned the attorney on who is in charge of admissions, to which he responded that the Director-General of Health Services is in charge (DGHS). “Ask DGHS to stay in court on Thursday,” the Bench said orally, adding that some accountability must be addressed.
The Bench stated that these are very serious matters involving medical students’ rights, and that the UOI is not represented by just one ASG, when the counsel sought adjournment due to ASG Balbir Singh undergoing personal difficulties.