SC issues notice to Centre over fresh Round III of NEET-PG counselling

New Delhi [India], February 4 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the central government's response to a plea seeking the cancellation of the third round of All India Quota (AIQ) counselling for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Postgraduates (NEET-PG). The petition, filed by approximately 50 candidates, seeks a fresh conduct of counselling.
The petitioners have alleged that during the initial round of counselling, some candidates were given undue advantages, which resulted in others being deprived of seats that would have otherwise been available to them.
"It is submitted that the act of the Respondent in commencing Round III of AIQ counselling before the State Round of counselling for all the states concluded is in clear violation of this Hon'ble Court's order in Ashish Ranjan (supra). Evidently, there was no permission sought by the Respondents from this Hon'ble Court seeking deviation from the Ashish Ranjan timeline and procedure of counselling", the plea states.
After considering the grounds raised in the plea, a Bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran issued a notice to the Union Health Ministry's Medical Counsel Committee (MCC).
In their plea, the aggrieved candidates (petitioners) state that candidates belonging to certain states were allowed to sit for AIQ Round III counselling before their State Round II counselling had concluded.
This, the plea argues, is arbitrary and violates the fundamental rights of other candidates who were not able to sit for the seats in AIQ Round III as the seats had been blocked by State Round II candidates.
It was the responsibility on the part of the MCC to wait for all the states to conclude Round II of the counselling before it could have started with Round III of AIQ, the plea contends. (ANI)