NEET-PG 2021: SC declines plea seeking special round of counselling

New Delhi [India], June 10: The Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking to conduct a Special Stray Round of counselling to allow the candidates to contest for the vacant seats which are available after the conduct of the stray vacancy round of All India Quota (AIQ). The vacation bench of Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose said that the quality of medical education cannot be compromised which affects public health. Also Read: SGPC president Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami releases prospectus of Khalsa College  The Court also said that granting relief now may affect medical education and health. The court on Thursday observed that eight rounds of counselling had happened before the seats remained vacant. The Court also noted that it is a three-year course and more than half the term has gone and a good amount of the seats are all non-clinical seats. It was remarked that there cannot be any compromise with education. Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh, appearing for the Centre and Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) submitted that classes have already started in February and it will have a detrimental effect if someone will take classes after 6 to 8 months in these courses. The apex court had earlier expressed dismay over vacant seats. The ASG said that out of 1,456 seats, 1,100 seats are in private institutions and 300 are in government colleges. He further submitted that in private colleges, fees are too high. On Wednesday, the MCC in an affidavit stated that filing of 1,456 vacant seats for NEET 2021 will disrupt the whole process for the upcoming counselling session NEET-PG 2022. The petitioners were represented by advocate Milind Kumar Advocate. The Petitioner appeared in NEET-PG 2021-22 and participated in Rounds 1 and 2 of All India Quota (AIQ) Counselling and State Quota Counselling which was followed by All India Mop-Up and State Mop-Up Rounds and was concluded on May 7 by Medical Counselling Committee post the All India Stray Vacancy Round. The petitioners were not able to secure a seat in any of the rounds. The petitioners claimed that they are aggrieved by the counselling process which was conducted by MCC in a manner that all the vacant seats were not a part of the stray vacancy round of the counselling. They said that the cause of action for filing the present Writ Petition arose on May 11 when the petitioners received a reply to the RTI they had filed wherein it was stated that "at the time of online allotment process all medical/dental post-graduate seats were exhausted but due to non-joining, resignation, and non-reported some seats remained vacant." However, official data was been provided, the petitioners said. Also Read: Security forces to use high-tech gadgets to secure Amarnath Yatra  Hence, the petitioner sought to direct Respondent MCC to provide the exact number of vacant seats after the conduct of the stray vacancy round of AIQ and to conduct a Special Stray Round of counselling to allow the candidates to participate in the vacant seats which are available after the conduct of stray vacancy round of AIQ. -PTC News