Doctors can avail of a fourth round of counseling for admission to PG medical courses this year after the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed candidates from the all-India quota to avail of their choice against the vacant seats, which otherwise would have gone back to the States.
The court’s order would benefit the students who had appeared in the second round of the online allotment process and even those who sought an upgradation in the third round of counseling unaware of a possible fourth round. The Centre was directed to complete the admission process by August 17.
On a PIl filed by a medical doctor Fraz Naseem, the judges considered extending this option, after the Centre informed the Court that about 1651 PG seats were going vacant this year. The petitioner said that states deliberately delayed the counseling schedule fixed by Court so that under the scheme of counseling, the vacant seats would revert to the States’ kitty.
Since three rounds of counseling are offered for Central quota PG admissions, the petitioner through senior advocate Indu Malhotra demanded for a fourth counseling round to overcome the malpractice by states. The one-time concession by the Court is all set to benefit over 2500 students, said counsel Anshuman Srivastava, who filed the petition for Naseem.
While limiting its order for this year’s admissions to state government colleges and not private colleges, the bench of Justices AK Patnaik and JS Khehar also directed states to give reasons by September 10 on why they overshot the counseling schedule year after year.