Reply from Centre, NMC sought by SC on plea for fresh NEET-PG counselling

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the Centre, the National Medical Commission (NMC), and others in response to a petition filed by a group of students seeking fresh counselling for the all-India quota (AIQ) round 3 of NEET-PG 2024.

A two-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran issued letters to UOI, NMC, and others, requesting responses, and scheduling a hearing for February 7.

The petitioners, who are eligible for NEET-PG 2024 counselling, stated that round 3 of AIQ counselling for NEET-PG began before the second round could end in some states.

The petition stated that when round 2 counselling began, they had the option of choosing between the best possibilities and leaving the AIQ seat if they received a better seat in the next round of counselling, TNIE reported.

“This created a grave prejudice to the petitioners and similarly placed candidates since they were deprived of the seats which were blocked by the candidates from the states whose round 2 did not commence earlier,” the plea said.

According to the appeal, seat blockage resulted in many meritorious eligible candidates losing their seats. The petitioners claimed that the respondents' actions violated the Supreme Court's NEET-PG counselling schedule.

The petitioners claimed that this resulted in substantial bias against them and the placed candidates because they were denied seats that were blocked by candidates from places where Round 2 did not begin sooner.