Summary
After the NEET-PG 2021 admission process — delayed by the pandemic and the OBC-reservation litigation — had run through four rounds of counselling each for the All India and State quotas plus an extra round for added seats, about 1,456 of some 40,000 seats remained vacant, over 1,100 of them in non-clinical courses and the rest in private colleges. Unsuccessful candidates petitioned under Article 32 for a special stray round of counselling to fill these seats; two High Courts had refused similar prayers. The Supreme Court dismissed the petitions.
Issues
- Whether candidates who failed to secure admission in NEET-PG 2021 can compel the Medical Counselling Committee and the Union of India to conduct a special stray round of counselling for seats remaining vacant after the scheduled rounds.
- Whether the mere existence of vacant postgraduate medical seats, largely non-clinical, justifies extending the admission schedule or making mid-session admissions.
Provisions considered
- Article 32, Constitution of IndiaNo writ of mandamus could issue to direct an additional round of counselling; the decision of the Union and the Committee not to hold one, taken after eight or nine rounds and with the next year's process about to start, was neither arbitrary nor contrary to the scheme approved by the Court. (¶¶ 10, 10.4, 11)
- Modified scheme of four rounds of counselling for All India and State quotas, with no reversion of seats to States, NEET-PG counselling scheme approved by the Supreme Court (SLP (C) No. 10487 of 2021)The modified scheme was followed and even supplemented by an extra round for 146 added seats; there is no scope under it for further rounds merely because seats remain vacant, and altering the scheme whenever vacancies arise would make the process endless. (¶¶ 5.1, 10.1, 10.2)
Held
- Following Supreet Batra and Education Promotion Society for India, a shortfall of seats in a particular year is no ground for an additional round of counselling or mid-session admission; the Court takes judicial notice that large numbers of non-clinical seats remain vacant every year because graduate doctors do not want to pursue them, and granting extensions would open a Pandora's box and defeat the purpose of a strict time schedule. (¶¶ 10.2, 10.3, 10.7)
- With the NEET-PG 2021 process already behind schedule, the software closed and security deposits refunded after the last round on 07.05.2022, and NEET-PG 2022 results declared with counselling due in July 2022, the conscious decision not to conduct a special stray round was in the interest of medical education and public health; admission, especially in medical education, cannot be endless and must end at a point of time. (¶¶ 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 11)
Result
Writ petitions and special leave petitions dismissed; no direction to conduct a special stray round of counselling for the 1,456 seats remaining vacant after NEET-PG 2021 counselling. No order as to costs.