The National Medical Commission (NMC) has instructed medical counselling committees to conduct online counselling for stray vacancy rounds in order to prevent college managements from blocking PG seats. The NMC has issued a circular to the principal secretaries of health in all states, citing orders from the Supreme Court. The court has stated that the Medical Counselling Committee of the DGHS should conduct online counselling for stray vacancies in UG and PG courses at Deemed Universities.
The NMC has requested state counselling agencies to make arrangements for online counselling for all rounds, including stray vacancies, in private medical colleges starting from the academic year 2023-24. The commission has emphasized that no college or institute should conduct physical counselling, and this change will help address the issue of seat blocking and related complaints and court cases.
Last year, the Medical Counselling Committee sought clarification from the Supreme Court regarding the order issued on May 9, 2017, which called for four rounds of common counselling for all India quota seats. This request was made in accordance with the modified counselling scheme.
Some colleges have been blocking seats by associating them with students who have obtained good ranks and seats in other states during the second phase of counselling. However, these students may choose not to accept the seat if they are admitted to their desired college in the first phase. The colleges have taken advantage of this situation by selling the leftover seats at higher prices, which disadvantages deserving students. Some students have been unaware of how their names appeared on the list of allocated seats during counselling.
To combat these malpractices, the NMC has directed private colleges to conduct only online counselling and not physical counselling.
